Sample records for electron-neutrino scattering neutrino

The electron-neutrino charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) cross section on nuclei is an important input parameter for electronneutrino appearance oscillation experiments. Current experiments typically begin with the muon neutrino cross section and apply theoretical corrections to obtain a prediction for the electronneutrino cross section. However, at present no experimental verification of the estimates for this channel at an energy scale appropriate to such experiments exists. We present the cross sections for a CCQE-like process determined using the MINERvA detector, which are the first measurements of any exclusive reaction in few-GeV electronneutrino interactions. The result is given as differential cross-sections vs. the electron energy, electron angle, and square of the four-momentum transferred to the nucleus, $Q^{2}$. We also compute the ratio to a muon neutrino cross-section in $Q^{2}$ from MINERvA. We find satisfactory agreement between these measurements and the predictions of the GENIE generator. We furthermore report on a photon-like background unpredicted by the generator which we interpret as neutral-coherent diffractive scattering from hydrogen.

The first direct measurement of electronneutrino quasielastic and quasielasticlike scattering on hydrocarbon in the few-GeV region of incident neutrino energy has been carried out using the MINERvA detector in the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The flux-integrated differential cross sections in the electron production angle, electron energy, and Q2 are presented. The ratio of the quasielastic, flux-integrated differential cross section in Q2 for νe with that of similarly selected νμ-induced events from the same exposure is used to probe assumptions that underpin conventional treatments of charged-current νe interactions used by long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. Furthermore, the data are found tomore » be consistent with lepton universality and are well described by the predictions of the neutrino event generator GENIE.« less

We analyze charged-current electron-neutrino cross sections on carbon. We consider two different theoretical approaches, on one hand the continuum random phase approximation (CRPA) which allows a description of giant resonances and quasielastic excitations, on the other hand the RPA-based calculations which are able to describe multinucleon emission and coherent and incoherent pion production as well as quasielastic excitations. We compare the two approaches in the genuine quasielastic channel, and find a satisfactory agreement between them at large energies while at low energies the collective giant resonances show up only in the CRPA approach. We also compare electron-neutrino cross sections with the corresponding muon-neutrino ones in order to investigate the impact of the different charged-lepton masses. Finally, restricting to the RPA-based approach, we compare the sum of quasielastic, multinucleon emission, coherent, and incoherent one-pion production cross sections (folded with the electron-neutrino T2K flux) with the charged-current inclusive electron-neutrino differential cross sections on carbon measured by T2K. We find a good agreement with the data. The multinucleon component is needed in order to reproduce the T2K electron-neutrino inclusive cross sections.

The electron-neutrino charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) cross section on nuclei is an important input parameter to appearance-type neutrino oscillation experiments. Current experiments typically work from the muon neutrino cross section and apply corrections from theoretical arguments to obtain a prediction for the electronneutrino cross section, but to date there has been no experimental verification of the estimates for this channel at an energy scale appropriate to such experiments. We present the first measurement of an exclusive reaction in few-GeV electronneutrino interactions, namely, the cross section for a CCQE-like process, made using the MINERvA detector. The result is given as differential cross-sections vs. the electron energy, electron angle, and square of the four-momentum transferred to the nucleus, $Q^2$. We also compute the ratio to a muon neutrino cross-section in $Q^2$ from MINERvA. We find satisfactory agreement between this measurement and the predictions of the GENIE generator.

The collapse of the iron core of a star with mass 1.4 M ⊙ is computed. The initial model was chosen to be polytropic, P ∝ ρ 1+1/ n , with n = 3. The equation of state takes into account the equilibrium radiation of photons, a mixture of Fermi gases comprised of free nucleons and ideal gases comprised of nuclei (Fe, He) in equilibrium with respect to nuclear reactions, and electron-positron gas. The transport equation for electronneutrinos and anti-neutrinos is also included. The absorption and emission of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos with the participation of free nucleons and nuclei is taken into account, as well as scattering on electrons. The main goal of this study is to develop a numerical method for the joint solution of the gas-dynamical equations formatter and the Boltzmann kinetic equations for the distribution functions of various types of neutrinos in both optically thin and optically thick regions. The spherically symmetrical case is considered, but the dependences of the distribution functions on all the phase-space variables—the mass coordinate, particle energy, cosine of the angle between the radius vector and the particle momentum, and time, ( m, ɛ, µ, t)—are retained in the description of the neutrino transport. When computing reaction rates, the exact quantum-mechanical expressions for the probabilities of processes are used, with integration over the entire momentum phase space. The gas-dynamical variables depend on the mass coordinate and time, ( m, t). The solution yields neutrino light curves, which have narrow maximum with characteristic widths ≈10 ms. This makes it possible to place constraints on the mass of the electronneutrino based on the detection of short bursts of radiation, ≲4 eV. Part of the neutrino energy is absorbed in the envelope of the stellar core (˜1050 erg). This is associated with the higher mean neutrino energies in this model, which is more exact than models with neutrino thermal conductivity. This

The first direct measurement of electronneutrino quasielastic and quasielasticlike scattering on hydrocarbon in the few-GeV region of incident neutrino energy has been carried out using the MINERvA detector in the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The flux-integrated differential cross sections in the electron production angle, electron energy, and Q^{2} are presented. The ratio of the quasielastic, flux-integrated differential cross section in Q^{2} for ν_{e} with that of similarly selected ν_{μ}-induced events from the same exposure is used to probe assumptions that underpin conventional treatments of charged-current ν_{e} interactions used by long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The data are found to be consistent with lepton universality and are well described by the predictions of the neutrino event generator GENIE. PMID:26967410

The first direct measurement of electronneutrino quasielastic and quasielasticlike scattering on hydrocarbon in the few-GeV region of incident neutrino energy has been carried out using the MINERvA detector in the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The flux-integrated differential cross sections in the electron production angle, electron energy, and Q2 are presented. The ratio of the quasielastic, flux-integrated differential cross section in Q2 for νe with that of similarly selected νμ-induced events from the same exposure is used to probe assumptions that underpin conventional treatments of charged-current νe interactions used by long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The data are found to be consistent with lepton universality and are well described by the predictions of the neutrino event generator GENIE.

Personal perspective and recollections by the author discuss the Reines-Cowan team discovery of the electronneutrino at a Savannah River reactor in 1956. First presented at the Neutrino Santa Fe 2006 Conference.

The T2K experiment has observed electronneutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam produced 295 km from the Super-Kamiokande detector with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. A total of 28 electronneutrino events were detected with an energy distribution consistent with an appearance signal, corresponding to a significance of 7.3σ when compared to 4.92±0.55 expected background events. In the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata mixing model, the electronneutrino appearance signal depends on several parameters including three mixing angles θ12, θ23, θ13, a mass difference Δm(32)(2) and a CP violating phase δ(CP). In this neutrino oscillation scenario, assuming |Δm(32)(2)|=2.4×10(-3) eV(2), sin(2)θ(23)=0.5, and Δm322>0 (Δm(32)(2)<0), a best-fit value of sin(2)2θ(13)=0.140(-0.032)(+0.038) (0.170(-0.037)(+0.045)) is obtained at δ(CP)=0. When combining the result with the current best knowledge of oscillation parameters including the world average value of θ(13) from reactor experiments, some values of δ(CP) are disfavored at the 90% C.L. PMID:24580687

The T2K experiment has observed electronneutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam produced 295 km from the Super-Kamiokande detector with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. A total of 28 electronneutrino events were detected with an energy distribution consistent with an appearance signal, corresponding to a significance of 7.3σ when compared to 4.92±0.55 expected background events. In the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata mixing model, the electronneutrino appearance signal depends on several parameters including three mixing angles θ12, θ23, θ13, a mass difference Δm322 and a CP violating phase δCP. In this neutrino oscillation scenario, assuming |Δm322|=2.4×10-3 eV2, sin2θ23=0.5, and Δm322>0 (Δm322<0), a best-fit value of sin22θ13=0.140-0.032+0.038 (0.170-0.037+0.045) is obtained at δCP=0. When combining the result with the current best knowledge of oscillation parameters including the world average value of θ13 from reactor experiments, some values of δCP are disfavored at the 90% C.L.

With SNO data [SNO Collaboration, nucl-ex/0106015] on electron-neutrino flux from the sun, it is possible to derive the νe survival probability Pee(E) from existing experimental data of Super-Kamiokande, gallium experiments and Homestake. The combined data of SNO and Super-Kamiokande provide boron νe flux and the total flux of all active boron neutrinos, giving thus Pee(E) for boron neutrinos. The Homestake detector, after subtraction of the signal from boron neutrinos, gives the flux of Be/+CNO neutrinos, and Pee for the corresponding energy interval, if the produced flux is taken from the Standard Solar Model (SSM). Gallium detectors, GALLEX, SAGE and GNO, detect additionally /pp-neutrinos. The /pp flux can be calculated subtracting from the gallium signal the rate due to boron, beryllium and CNO neutrinos. The ratio of the measured /pp-neutrino flux to that predicted by the SSM gives the survival probability for /pp-neutrinos. Comparison with theoretical survival probabilities shows that the best (among known models) fit is given by LMA and LOW solutions.

Appearance-type neutrino oscillation experiments, which observe the transition from muon neutrinos to electronneutrinos, promise to help answer some of the fundamental questions surrounding physics in the post-Standard-Model era. Because they wish to observe the interactions of electronneutrinos in their detectors, and because the power of current results is typically limited by their systematic uncertainties, these experiments require precise estimates of the cross-section for electronneutrino interactions. Of particular interest is the charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) process, which gures signi cantly in the composition of the reactions observed at the far detector. However, no experimental measurements of this crosssection currently exist for electronneutrinos; instead, current experiments typically work from the abundance of muon neutrino CCQE cross-section data and apply corrections from theoretical arguments to obtain a prediction for electronneutrinos. Veri cation of these predictions is challenging due to the di culty of constructing an electronneutrino beam, but the advent of modern high-intensity muon neutrino beams|together with the percent-level electronneutrino impurity inherent in these beams| nally presents the opportunity to make such a measurement. We report herein the rst-ever measurement of a cross-section for an exclusive state in electronneutrinoscattering, which was made using the MINER A detector in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. We present the electronneutrino CCQE di erential cross-sections, which are averaged over neutrinos of energies 1-10 GeV (with mean energy of about 3 GeV), in terms of various kinematic variables: nal-state electron angle, nal-state electron energy, and the square of the fourmomentum transferred to the nucleus by the neutrino , Q2. We also provide a total cross-section vs. neutrino energy. While our measurement of this process is found to be in agreement with the predictions of the GENIE

The MINOS Collaboration continues its search for {nu}{sub e} appearance in the NuMI (Neutrinos at the Main Injector) beam at Fermilab. Neutrinos in the beam interact in the Near Detector, located 1 km from the beam source, allowing us to characterize the backgrounds present in our analysis. In particular, we can estimate the number of {nu}{sub e} candidate events we expect to see in the Far Detector (735 km away, in the Soudan mine in northern Minnesota) in the presence or absence of {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillation. Recent efforts to improve the sensitivity of the analysis, including upgrades to the event identification algorithm and fitting procedure, are discussed, and the latest results from the search are presented.

This thesis describes a search for ve appearance in the two-detector long-baseline MINOS neutrino experiment at Fermilab, based on a data set representing an exposure of 8.2×1020 protons on the NuMI target. The analysis detailed herein represents an increase in sensitivity to the θ13 mixing angle of approximately 25% over previous analyses, due to improvements in the event discriminant and fitting technique. Based on our observation, we constrain the value of θ13 further, finding 2 sin2θ 23 sin2θ 13< 0.12(0.20) at the 90% confidence level for δCP = 0 and the normal (inverted) neutrino mass hierarchy. The best-fit value is 2 sin2θ 23 sin2θ 13 = 0.041+0.047-0.031(0.079+0.071-0.053) under the same assumptions. We exclude the θ 13 = 0 hypothesis at the 89% confidence level.

The MINOS experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment which sends a high intensity muon neutrino beam through two functionally identical detectors, a Near detector at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, 1km from the beam source, and a Far detector, 734km away, in the Soudan Mine in Minnesota. MINOS may be able to measure the neutrino mixing angle parameter sin2 2θ 13 for the rst time. Detector granularity, however, makes it very hard to distinguish any e appearance signal events characteristic of a non-zero value of θ 13 from background neutral current (NC) and short-track vμ charged current (CC) events. Also, uncertainties in the hadronic shower modeling in the kinematic region characteristic of this analysis are relatively large. A new data-driven background decomposition method designed to address those issues is developed and its results presented. By removing the long muon tracks from vμ-CC events, the Muon Removed Charge Current (MRCC) method creates independent pseudo-NC samples that can be used to correct the MINOS Monte Carlo to agree with the high-statistics Near detector data and to decompose the latter into components so as to predict the expected Far detector background. The MRCC method also provides an important cross-check in the Far detector to test the background in the signal selected region. MINOS finds a 1.0-1.5 σ ve-CC excess above background in the Far detector data, depending on method used, for a total exposure of 3.14 x 1020 protons-on-target. Interpreting this excess as signal, MINOS can set limits on sin2 2θ 13. Using the MRCC method, MINOS sets a limit of sin2 2 θ 13 < 0.265 at the 90% confidence limit for a CP-violating phase δ = 0.

We are performing an experiment to determine the electronneutrino mass with the precision of a few eV by measuring the tritium beta decay energy distribution near the endpoint. To make this measurement, we have built a spectrometer with a resolution of 2 eV. Our source is frozen tritium since tritium and the HeT/sup +/ daughter ion have electronic wavefunctions that can be calculated with high accuracy. We describe the experiment and discuss the excited final molecular state calculations.

MINOS is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment situated along Fermilab's high-intensity NuMI neutrino beam. MINOS has completed an updated search for muon neutrino to electronneutrino transitions, observation of which would indicate a non-zero value for the neutrino mixing angle {theta}{sub 13}. The present 7 x 10{sup 20} protons-on-target data set represents more than double the exposure used in the previous analysis. The new result and its implications are presented.

We explore the electronneutrino signals from light dark matter (DM) annihilation in the Sun for the large liquid scintillator detector JUNO. In terms of the spectrum features of three typical DM annihilation channels χχ → νbar nu, τ+τ-, bbar b, we take two sets of selection conditions to calculate the expected signals and atmospheric neutrino backgrounds based on the Monte Carlo simulation data. Then the JUNO sensitivities to the spin independent DM-nucleon and spin dependent DM-proton cross sections are presented. It is found that the JUNO projected sensitivities are much better than the current spin dependent direct detection experimental limits for the νbar nu and τ+τ- channels. In the spin independent case, the JUNO will give the better sensitivity to the DM-nucleon cross section than the LUX and CDMSlite limits for the νbar nu channel with the DM mass lighter than 6.5 GeV . If the νbar nu or τ+τ- channel is dominant, the future JUNO results are very helpful for us to understand the tension between the DAMA annual modulation signal and other direct detection exclusions.

The T2K experiment has reported the first observation of the appearance of electronneutrinos in a muon neutrino beam. The main and irreducible background to the appearance signal comes from the presence in the neutrino beam of a small intrinsic component of electronneutrinos originating from muon and kaon decays. In T2K, this component is expected to represent 1.2% of the total neutrino flux. A measurement of this component using the near detector (ND280), located 280 m from the target, is presented. The charged current interactions of electronneutrinos are selected by combining the particle identification capabilities of both the time projection chambers and electromagnetic calorimeters of ND280. The measured ratio between the observed electronneutrino beam component and the prediction is 1.01±0.10 providing a direct confirmation of the neutrino fluxes and neutrino cross section modeling used for T2K neutrino oscillation analyses. Electronneutrinos coming from muons and kaons decay are also separately measured, resulting in a ratio with respect to the prediction of 0.68±0.30 and 1.10±0.14, respectively.

We report herein the first-ever measurement of a cross-section for an exclusive state in electronneutrinoscattering at the GeV scale, which was made using the MINERnuA detector in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. We present the electronneutrino CCQE differential cross-sections, which are averaged over neutrinos of energies 1-10 GeV (with mean energy of about 3 GeV), in terms of various kinematic variables: final-state electron angle, final-state electron energy, and the square of the four-momentum transferred to the nucleus by the neutrino, Q2. We also provide a total cross-section vs. neutrino energy. While our measurement of this process is found to be in agreement with the predictions of the GENIE event generator, we also report on an unpredicted photon-like process we observe in a similar kinematic regime. The absence of this process from models for neutrino interactions is a potential stumbling block for future on-axis neutrino oscillation experiments. We include kinematic and particle species identification characterizations which can be used in building models to help address this shortcoming.

Neutrino oscillations offers an insight on new physics beyond the Standard Model. The three mixing angles (θ12, θ13 and θ23) and the two mass splittings (Δm2 and Αm2 ) have been measured by different neutrino oscillation experiments. Some other parameters including the mass ordering of different neutrino mass eigenstates and the CP violation phase are still unknown. NOνA is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment, using neutrinos from the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The experiment is equipped with two functionally identical detectors about 810 kilometers apart and 14 mrad off the beam axis. In this configuration, the muon neutrinos from the NuMI beam reach the disappearance maximum in the far detector and a small fraction of that oscillates into electronneutrinos. The sensitivity to the mass ordering and CP viola- tion phase determination is greately enhanced. This thesis presents the νeappearance analysis using the neutrino data collected with the NOνA experiment between February 2014 and May 2015, which corresponds to 3.45 ×1020 protons-on-target (POT). The νe appearance analysis is performed by comparing the observed νe CC-like events to the estimated background at the far detector. The total background is predicted to be 0.95 events with 0.89 originated from beam events and 0.06 from cosmic ray events. The beam background is obtained by extrapolating near detector data through different oscillation channels, while the cosmic ray background is calculated based on out-of-time NuMI trigger data. A total of 6 electronneutrino candidates are observed in the end at the far detector which represents 3.3 σ excess over the predicted background. The NOνA result disfavors inverted mass hierarchy for δcp ϵ [0, 0.6π] at 90% C.L.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a water Cerenkov detector designed to study solar neutrinos. Using 1 kiloton of heavy water as the target and detection medium, SNO is able to separately determine the flux of electronneutrinos (νe) and the flux of all active neutrinos from the Sun by measuring the rate of charged current (CC) and neutral current (NC) interactions with deuterons. A comparison of these interaction rates allows for direct observation of solar neutrino oscillations. SNO can also search for oscillations by comparing the rate of CC and neutrino- electron elastic scattering (ES) events, since ES has both charged current and neutral current sensitivity. In this thesis, we present measurement of the 8B solar ν e flux of 1.78+0.13-0.14 (stat+syst) × 106cm-2s -1 (35% BP2000 SSM) through measurement of the CC rate over 169.3 days of livetime. We have also measured the 8B flux from the ES reaction to be 2.56+0.48-0.45 (stat+syst), consistent with measurements by previous water Cerenkov experiments. A flavor analysis comparing the CC measured flux with that determined through ES by SuperKamiokande yields a non- νe active neutrino flux from 8B of 3.62+1.06-1.08 × 106cm-2s-1 , providing evidence for νe --> ν μ,τ oscillations as a solution to the solar neutrino problem. This result excludes pure solar νe --> ν s oscillations at greater than the 99.7% C.I. The total active 8B neutrino flux has been measured to be 5.39+1.07-1.09 × 106cm-2s-1 , consistent with BP2000 SSM predictions. First analyses of the CC (NHit) spectrum and hep flux in SNO are presented. The CC spectrum is found to be a good fit to expectations from an undistorted 8B spectrum, and global best fit vacuum oscillation solutions are disfavored over the other solutions by the data. Through observations near the 8B endpoint with consideration of energy systematics, hep flux limits of 4.1 (90% C.I.) and 6.9 (99% C.I.) times SSM expectations are obtained. A statistical fit for the

Air-fluorescence detectors such as the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) detector are very sensitive to upward-going, Earth-skimming ultra-high-energy electron-neutrino-induced showers. This is due to the relatively large interaction cross sections of these high-energy neutrinos and to the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect. The LPM effect causes a significant decrease in the cross sections for bremsstrahlung and pair production, allowing charged-current electron-neutrino-induced showers occurring deep in the Earth's crust to be detectable as they exit the Earth into the atmosphere. A search for upward-going neutrino-induced showers in the HiRes-II monocular data set has yielded a null result. From an LPM calculation of the energy spectrum of charged particles as a function of primary energy and depth for electron-induced showers in rock, we calculate the shape of the resulting profile of these showers in air. We describe a full detector Monte Carlo simulation to determine the detector response to upward-going electron-neutrino-induced cascades and present an upper limit on the flux of electronneutrinos.

I present a new approach to the measurement of a, the electron-neutrino correlation, in neutron beta decay. A precise measurement of a can lead to a precise determination of ratio of the axial vector and vector coupling constants, Ga/Gv. Coincidences between electrons and protons are detected in a field-expansion spectrometer. The field-expansion spectrometer is designed to make 1/TOF ≈ | pp|. TOF and pp are the proton time of flight and momentum. Two segmented Si detectors view both electrons and protons in 4π geometry. The time of flight between the electron and proton are accurately measured in a long, ≈ 1 m, drift distance. The electron energy is accurately measured in the Si detectors. The proton momentum and electron energy determine the electron-neutrino opening angle. I have shown that by sorting the data on proton time of flight and electron energy, a can be determined with a statistical relative standard uncertainty of ≈2.4/n, where n is the number of decays observed. The approach has a number of advantages. The acceptance of the spectrometer is 4π for both particles. Thin-dead-layer segmented Si detectors as well as all other components in the apparatus, are commercially available. There are no material apertures to determine the acceptance of the apparatus. The charged particles interact only with electric and magnetic fields before striking the detectors. Coincident detection of electrons and protons reduces backgrounds, and allows the in situ determination of backgrounds. In the analysis, it is not necessary to sort on the relative electron and proton direction and hence electron back scattering does not cause systematic uncertainties. A time of flight spectrum is obtained for each electron energy. Different parts of the spectra have different sensitivities to a. The medium time of flight parts of the spectra that are insensitive to a can be used to verify the accuracy of the electric and magnetic field determinations. PMID:27308158

We perform a search for vμ → ve oscillations, a process which would manifest a nonzero value of the θ13 mixing angle, in the MINOS long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. The analysis consists of searching for an excess of ve charged-current candidate events over the predicted backgrounds, made mostly of neutral-current events with high electromagnetic content. A novel technique to select electronneutrino events is developed, which achieves an improved separation between the signal and the backgrounds, and which consequently yields a better reach in θ13. The backgrounds are predicted in the Far Detector from Near Detector measurements. An excess is observed in the Far Detector data over the predicted backgrounds, which is consistent with the background-only hypothesis at 1.2 standard deviations.

One of the primary goals in neutrino physics at the present moment is to make a measurement of the neutrino oscillation parameter $\\theta_{13}$. This parameter, in addition to being unknown, could potentially allow for the introduction of CP violation into the lepton sector. The MINOS long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment has the ability to make a measurement of this parameter, by looking for the oscillation of muon neutrinos to electronneutrinos between a Near and Far Detector over a distance of 735 km. This thesis discusses the development of an analysis framework to search for this oscillation mode. Two major improvements to pre-existing analysis techniques have been implemented by the author. First, a novel particle ID technique based on strip topology, known as the Library Event Matching (LEM) method, is optimized for use in MINOS. Second, a multiple bin likelihood method is developed to fit the data. These two improvements, when combined, increase MINOS' sensitivity to $\\sin^2(2\\theta_{13})$ by 27\\% over previous analyses. This thesis sees a small excess over background in the Far Detector. A Frequentist interpretation of the data rules out $\\theta_{13}=0$ at 91\\%. A Bayesian interpretation of the data is also presented, placing the most stringent upper boundary on the oscillation parameter to date, at $\\sin^2(2\\theta_{13})<0.09(0.015)$ for the Normal (Inverted) Hierarchy and $\\delta_{CP}=0$.

The observation of neutrino oscillations (neutrino changing from one flavor to another) has provided compelling evidence that the neutrinos have non-zero masses and that leptons mix, which is not part of the original Standard Model of particle physics. The theoretical framework that describes neutrino oscillation involves two mass scales (Δmatm2 and Δmsol2), three mixing angles (θ12, θ23, and θ13) and one CP violating phase (δCP). Both mass scales and two of the mixing angles (θ12 and θ23) have been measured by many neutrino experiments. The mixing angle θ13, which is believed to be very small, remains unknown. The current best limit on θ13 comes from the CHOOZ experiment: θ13 < 11° at 90% C.L. at the atmospheric mass scale. δCP is also unknown today. MINOS, the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search, is a long baseline neutrino experiment based at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The experiment uses a muon neutrino beam, which is measured 1 km downstream from its origin in the Near Detector at Fermilab and then 735 km later in the Far Detector at the Soudan mine. By comparing these two measurements, MINOS can obtain parameters in the atmospheric sector of neutrino oscillations. MINOS has published results on the precise measurement of Δmatm2 and θ23 through the disappearance of muon neutrinos in the Far Detector and on a search for sterile neutrinos by looking for a deficit in the number of neutral current interactions seen in the Far Detector. MINOS also has the potential to improve the limit on the neutrino mixing angle θ13 or make the first measurement of its value by searching for an electronneutrino appearance signal in the Far Detector. This is the focus of the study presented in this thesis. We developed a neural network based algorithm to

Neutrinos produced as a result of cosmic-ray interactions in the earth's atmosphere offer a powerful probe into the nature of this three-membered family of low-mass, weakly-interacting particles. Ten years ago, the Super-Kamiokande Experiment has confirmed earlier indications that neutrinos undergo lepton-flavor oscillations during propagation, proving that they are massive contrary to the previous Standard Model assumptions. The Soudan Underground Laboratory, located in northern Minnesota, was host to the Soudan2 Experiment, which has made important contributions to atmospheric neutrino research. This same lab has more recently been host to the MINOS far detector, a neutrino detector which serves as the downstream element of an accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiment. This thesis has examined 418.5 live days of atmospheric neutrino data (fiducial exposure of 4.18 kton-years) collected in the MINOS far detector prior to the activation of the NuMI neutrino beam, with a specific emphasis on the investigation of electron-type neutrino interactions. Atmospheric neutrino interaction candidates have been selected and separated into showering or track-like events. The showering sample consists of 89 observed events, while the track-like sample consists of 112 observed events. Based on the Bartol atmospheric neutrino flux model of Barr et al. plus a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of interactions in the MINOS detector, the expected yields of showering and track-like events in the absence of neutrino oscillations are 88.0 {+-} 1.0 and 149.1 {+-} 1.0 respectively (where the uncertainties reflect only the limited MC statistics). Major systematic uncertainties, especially those associated with the flux model, are cancelled by forming a double ratio of these observed and expected yields: R{sup data}{sub trk/shw}/R{sup MC}{sub trk/shw} = 0.74{sup +0.12}{sub -01.0}(stat.) {+-} 0.04 (syst.) This double ratio should be equal to unity in the absence of

MINOS is a long-baseline two-detector neutrino oscillation experiment that uses a high intensity muon neutrino beam to investigate the phenomena of neutrino oscillations. By measuring the neutrino interactions in a detector near the neutrino source and again 735 km away from the production site, it is possible to probe the parameters governing neutrino oscillation. The majority of the vμ oscillate to vτ but a small fraction may oscillate instead to ve. This thesis presents a measurement of the ve appearance rate in the MINOS far detector using the first two years of exposure. Methods for constraining the far detector backgrounds using the near detector measurements is discussed and a technique for estimating the uncertainty on the background and signal selection are developed. A 1.6σ excess over the expected background rate is found providing a hint of ve appearance.

The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long-baseline neutrino experiment that utilizes a particle beam and two steel-scintillator calorimeters designed to determine the parameters associated with muon neutrino disappearance. Analysis methods developed by the MINOS νe group have facilitated the placement of limits upon the mixing angle associated with νμ → νe oscillations. Since the polarity of the focusing horns can be switched, we can perform a similar analysis with an antineutrino-enriched beam to select electron antineutrino appearance candidates. Using 3.34e20 POT (protons on target) in the antineutrino mode, we exclude θ13 = 0 at the 80% C.L. A joint fit of the 3.34e20 POT antineutrino and 10.6e20 POT neutrino samples excluded θ13 = 0 at the 96% C.L. In addition, the combined data were used to produce exclusions regarding the CP-violating phase.

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that uses two functionally identical detectors separated by 810 kilometers at locations 14 milliradians off-axis from the NuMI muon neutrino beam at Fermilab. At these locations the beam energy peaks at 2 GeV. This baseline is the longest in the world for an accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiment, which enhances the sensitivity to the neutrino mass ordering. The experiment studies oscillations of the muon neutrino and anti-neutrino beam that is produced. Both detectors completed commissioning in the summer of 2014 and continue to collect data. One of the primary physics goals of the experiment is the measurement of electronneutrino appearance in the muon neutrino beam which yields measurements of the oscillation parameters sin22θ13, δ , and the neutrino mass ordering within the standard model of neutrino oscillations. This thesis presents the analysis of data collected between February 2014 and May 2015, corresponding to 3.52 X 1020 protons-on-target. In this first analysis NOvA recorded 6 electronneutrino candidates, which is a 3.3σ observation of electronneutrino appearance. The T2K experiment performs the same measurement on a baseline of 295 kilometers and has a 1 σ preference for the normal mass ordering over the inverted ordering over the phase space of the CP violating parameter δ, which is also weakly seen in the NOvA result. By the summer of 2016 NOvA will triple its statistics due to increased beam power and a completed detector. If electronneutrinos continue to be observed at the current rate NOvA will be able to establish a mass ordering preference at a similar confidence level to T2K.

MiniBooNE seeks to corroborate or refute the unconfirmed oscillation result from the LSND experiment. If correct, the result implies that a new kind of massive neutrino, with no weak interactions, participates in neutrino oscillations. MiniBooNE searches for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillations with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory 8 GeV beam line, which produces a {nu}{sub {mu}} beam with an average energy of {approx} 0.8 GeV and an intrinsic {nu}{sub e} content of 0.4%. The neutrino detector is a 6.1 m radius sphere filled with CH{sub 2}, viewed by 1540 photo-multiplier tubes, and located 541 m downstream from the source. This work focuses on the estimation of systematic errors associated with the neutrino flux and neutrino interaction cross section predictions, and in particular, on constraining these uncertainties using in-situ MiniBooNE {nu}{sub {mu}} charged current quasielastic (CCQE) scattering data. A data set with {approx} 100,000 events is identified, with 91% CCQE purity. This data set is used to measure several parameters of the CCQE cross section: the axial mass, the Fermi momentum, the binding energy, and the functional dependence of the axial form factor on four-momentum transfer squared. Constraints on the {nu}{sub {mu}} and {nu}{sub e} fluxes are derived using the {nu}{sub {mu}} CCQE data set. A Monte Carlo study of a combined {nu}{sub {mu}} disappearance and {nu}{sub e} appearance oscillation fit is presented, which improves the {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillation sensitivity of MiniBooNE with respect to a {nu}{sub e} appearance-only fit by 1.2-1.5{sigma}, depending on the value of {Delta}m{sup 2}.

An experiment has been performed to determine the electronneutrino mass with the precision of a few eV by measuring the tritium beta decay energy distribution near the endpoint. Key features of the experiment are a 2 eV resolution electrostatic spectrometer and a high-activity frozen tritium source. It is important that the source have electronic wavefunctions which can be accurately calculated. These calculations have been made for tritium and the HeT/sup +/ daughter ion and allow determination of branching fractions to 0.1% and energy of the excited states to 0.1 eV. The excited final molecular state calculations and the experimental apparatus are discussed. 4 refs., 5 figs.

We report the real time measurements of 7Be and 8B solar neutrino fluxes performed with the Borexino experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The achievement of these measurements was possible thanks to the excellent levels of the radiopurity reached. The measurement of the 7Be in real time is the first direct measurements of the survival probability for solar electronneutrinos in the vacuum region. For 8B we reached a threshold energy of 3MeV which is the lowest achieved so far in real time. For the first time, the same apparatus can measure two different oscillation regions (vacuum-driven and matter-enhanced) predicted by the MSW-LMA model. Borexino also quotes the ratio between the survival probabilities, corresponding to 1.93 ± 0.75, and validates the presence of the transition region between the two oscillation regimes, according to the MSW-LMA solution.In addition, a preliminary result on the Day-Night Asymmetry (ADN) for the 7Be neutrino flux is presented and corresponds to 0.007 ± 0.073. This measurement makes Borexino able to give once more an independent confirmation of the MSW-LMA solution.

The T2K off-axis near detector ND280 is used to make the first differential cross-section measurements of electronneutrino charged current interactions at energies ∼1 GeV as a function of electron momentum, electron scattering angle, and four-momentum transfer of the interaction. The total flux-averaged ν(e) charged current cross section on carbon is measured to be ⟨σ⟩(ϕ)=1.11±0.10(stat)±0.18(syst)×10⁻³⁸ cm²/nucleon. The differential and total cross-section measurements agree with the predictions of two leading neutrino interaction generators, NEUT and GENIE. The NEUT prediction is 1.23×10⁻³⁸ cm²/nucleon and the GENIE prediction is 1.08×10⁻³⁸ cm²/nucleon. The total ν(e) charged current cross-section result is also in agreement with data from the Gargamelle experiment. PMID:25541766

The T2K off-axis near detector ND280 is used to make the first differential cross-section measurements of electronneutrino charged current interactions at energies ˜1 GeV as a function of electron momentum, electron scattering angle, and four-momentum transfer of the interaction. The total flux-averaged νe charged current cross section on carbon is measured to be ⟨σ ⟩ϕ =1.11 ±0.10 (stat)±0.18 (syst)×1 0-38 cm2/nucleon . The differential and total cross-section measurements agree with the predictions of two leading neutrino interaction generators, NEUT and GENIE. The NEUT prediction is 1.23 ×1 0-38 cm2/nucleon and the GENIE prediction is 1.08 ×1 0-38 cm2/nucleon . The total νe charged current cross-section result is also in agreement with data from the Gargamelle experiment.

The Germanium Detector Array (GERDA) collaboration will be searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of {sup 76}Ge. As a result it will measure the half-life T{sub 1/2} of this rare process; or at least a new value for the lower limit for T{sub 1/2} will be derived. The sensitivity of the GERDA experiment on the effective electronneutrino mass depends on the theoretical value for the nuclear matrix element M and the kinematical phase space factor G.In this Brief Report we focus on existing difficulties in applying the dimensionless values of M calculated by various theoretical groups, which use different methods and parametrizations. The implicit radius dependencies in M and G are discussed. Resulting values of the neutrino mass are tabulated for various representative half-lives T{sub 1/2} representing the sensitivity of the various phases of the GERDA experiment.

The authors report the results of a search for νe appearance in νμ beam in the MINOS long-baseline neutrino experiment. With an improved analysis and an increased exposure of 8.2 x 1020 protons on the NuMI target at Fermilab, they find that 2 sin2 (θ23 sin2 (θ13) < 0.12 (0.20) at 90% confidence level for δ = 0 and the normal (inverted) neutrino mass hierarchy, with a best fit of 2 sin2θ23) sin 2 (2θ13) = 0.041-0.031 +0.047 (0.079-0.053 +0.071). The θ13= 0 hypothesis is disfavored by the MINOS data at the 89% confidence level.

The neutrino pulses detected by the LSD (Liquid Scintillator Detector) on February 23, 1987, are analyzed on the basis of a two-stage model of supernova explosion. The number of events due to the electron-neutrino interaction with {sup 56}Fe in the LSD is calculated. The obtained number of signals is in agreement with experimental data.

A search of neutrino magnetic moment was carried out at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Station at a distance of 28 m from the 2.9 GW reactor core. With a high purity germanium detector of mass 1.06 kg surrounded by scintillating NaI(Tl) and CsI(Tl) crystals as anti-Compton detectors, a detection threshold of 5 keV and a background level of 1 kg(-1) keV(-1) day(-1) at 12-60 keV were achieved. Based on 4712 and 1250 h of reactor ON and OFF data, respectively, the limit on the neutrino magnetic moment of mu(nu;(e))<1.3x10(-10)mu(B) at 90% confidence level was derived. An indirect bound of the nu;(e) radiative lifetime of m(3)(nu)tau(nu)>2.8x10(18) eV(3) s can be inferred. PMID:12689275

The authors report the results of a search for νe appearance in νμ beam in the MINOS long-baseline neutrino experiment. With an improved analysis and an increased exposure of 8.2 x 1020 protons on the NuMI target at Fermilab, they find that 2 sin2 (θ23 sin2 (θ13) < 0.12 (0.20) at 90% confidence level for δ = 0 and the normal (inverted) neutrino mass hierarchy, with a best fit of 2 sin2θ23) sin 2 (2θ13) = 0.041-0.031+0.047 (0.079-0.053+0.071). The θ13= 0 hypothesis is disfavored by the MINOS data at the 89% confidence level.

The T2K experiment observes indications of ν(μ) → ν(e) appearance in data accumulated with 1.43×10(20) protons on target. Six events pass all selection criteria at the far detector. In a three-flavor neutrino oscillation scenario with |Δm(23)(2)| = 2.4×10(-3) eV(2), sin(2)2θ(23) = 1 and sin(2)2θ(13) = 0, the expected number of such events is 1.5±0.3(syst). Under this hypothesis, the probability to observe six or more candidate events is 7×10(-3), equivalent to 2.5σ significance. At 90% C.L., the data are consistent with 0.03(0.04) < sin(2)2θ(13) < 0.28(0.34) for δ(CP) = 0 and a normal (inverted) hierarchy. PMID:21866992

This letter reports results from a search for {nu}{sub {mu}}{yields}{nu}{sub {mu}} transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 7 x 1020 protons-on-target exposure. Our observation of 54 candidate e events in the Far Detector with a background of 49.1 {+-} 7.0(stat.) {+-} 2.7(syst.) events predicted by the measurements in the Near Detector requires 2 sin2(2{theta}13) sin2{theta}23 < 0.12 (0.20) at the 90% C.L. for the normal (inverted) mass hierarchy at {delta}CP = 0. The experiment sets the tightest limits to date on the value of {theta}13 for nearly all values of {delta}CP for the normal neutrino mass hierarchy and maximal sin2(2{theta}23).

This paper reports results from a search for {nu}{sub {mu}{yields}{nu}e} transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 7x10{sup 20} protons-on-target exposure. Our observation of 54 candidate {nu}{sub e} events in the far detector with a background of 49.1{+-}7.0(stat){+-}2.7(syst) events predicted by the measurements in the near detector requires 2sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 13})sin{sup 2{theta}}{sub 23}<0.12(0.20) at the 90% C.L. for the normal (inverted) mass hierarchy at {delta}{sub CP}=0. The experiment sets the tightest limits to date on the value of {theta}{sub 13} for nearly all values of {delta}{sub CP} for the normal neutrino mass hierarchy and maximal sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 23}).

Proposed medium-baseline reactor neutrino experiments offer unprecedented opportunities to probe, at the same time, the mass-mixing parameters which govern νe oscillations both at long wavelength (δm2 and θ12) and at short wavelength (Δm2 and θ13), as well as their tiny interference effects related to the mass hierarchy (i.e., the relative sign of Δm2 and δm2). In order to take full advantage of these opportunities, precision calculations and refined statistical analyses of event spectra are required. In such a context, we revisit several input ingredients, including nucleon recoil in inverse beta decay and its impact on energy reconstruction and resolution, hierarchy and matter effects in the oscillation probability, spread of reactor distances, irreducible backgrounds from geoneutrinos and from far reactors, and degeneracies between energy scale and spectrum shape uncertainties. We also introduce a continuous parameter α, which interpolates smoothly between normal hierarchy (α =+1) and inverted hierarchy (α =-1). The determination of the hierarchy is then transformed from a test of hypothesis to a parameter estimation, with a sensitivity given by the distance of the true case (either α=+1 or α =-1) from the "undecidable" case (α=0). Numerical experiments are performed for the specific setup envisaged for the JUNO project, assuming a realistic sample of O(105) reactor events. We find a typical sensitivity of ˜2σ to the hierarchy in JUNO, which, however, can be challenged by energy scale and spectrum shape systematics, whose possible conspiracy effects are investigated. The prospective accuracy reachable for the other mass-mixing parameters is also discussed.

It is shown that cosmic neutrinoscattering can be non-negligible when coherence effects previously neglected are taken into account. The coherent neutrinoscattering cross section is derived and the neutrino index of refraction evaluated. As an example of coherent neutrinoscattering, a detector using critical reflection is described which in principle can detect the low energy cosmic neutrino background allowed by the measured cosmological red shift.

The NOvA experiment measures long baseline νμ -->νe oscillations in Fermilab's NuMI beam. Measurement of this oscillation probability enables determination of the neutrino mass ordering and opens a window to observation of charge-parity violation in the neutrino sector. NOvA started taking data in 2014 and has already observed νe appearance at the 3.3 σ level with the first 7 % of the total projected dataset last year. Future analyses will exploit the expected energy dependence of oscillation to improve sensitivity. A new method to estimate energy for νe events and its impact on the next analysis will be discussed.

This work attempts to measure or set a limit on sin2(2θ13), the parameter which describes vμ → ve oscillations. The MINOS detectors at Fermilab are used to perform a search for the oscillations utilizing a beam of vμneutrinos created in the NuMI beamline by the collisions of 120 GeV protons with a carbon target. These collisions create π± and K± which are focused with magnetic horns, are allowed to decay, and result in a beam of vμ in the energy range of 1 to 30 GeV. Two functionally identical steel-scintillator calorimetric detectors are utilized to measure the interactions of the generated neutrinos. A detector close to the NuMI beam, located 104 m underground and 1040 m from the target, is used to measure the properties of the neutrino beam, including the flux, composition, and energy spectrum. This information is used in part to generate a predicted spectrum of neutrinos in absence of vμ → ve oscillations in the detector located far from the target, at a distance of 705 m underground and 735.5 km from the target. An excess of predicted ve charged current events in this far detector will be interpreted as vμ → ve oscillations, and a measurement of sin2(2θ13) will be made using a Feldman-Cousins analysis. The measurement of vμ → ve requires the separation of ve candidates from background events. New reconstruction software was developed with a focus on identifying ve candidate events in order to reduce systematic errors. The event parameters measured by this software were used as an input to an artificial neutral network event discriminator. The details of this reconstruction software and the other steps of the analysis necessary to making the measurement will be discussed. This work builds on a previous measurement made with this

This paper presents a measurement of the charged current interaction rate of the electronneutrino beam component of the beam above 1.5 GeV using the large fiducial mass of the T2K π0 detector. The predominant portion of the νe flux (˜85 % ) at these energies comes from kaon decays. The measured ratio of the observed beam interaction rate to the predicted rate in the detector with water targets filled is 0.89 ±0.08 (stat)±0.11 (sys) , and with the water targets emptied is 0.90 ±0.09 (stat)±0.13 (sys) . The ratio obtained for the interactions on water only from an event subtraction method is 0.87 ±0.33 (stat)±0.21 (sys) . This is the first measurement of the interaction rate of electronneutrinos on water, which is particularly of interest to experiments with water Cherenkov detectors.

The MiniBooNE Collaboration reports first results of a search for {upsilon}{sub e} appearance in a {upsilon}{sub {mu}} beam. With two largely independent analyses, we observe no significant excess of events above background for reconstructed neutrino energies above 475 MeV. The data are consistent with no oscillations within a two neutrino appearance-only oscillation model.

In this talk, the authors discuss the possibility of determining the neutrino mass hierarchy by comparing the two effective atmospheric neutrino mass squared differences measured, respectively, in electron, and in muon neutrino disappearance oscillation experiments. if the former, is larger (smaller) than the latter, the mass hierarchy is of normal (inverted) type. They consider two very high precision (a few per mil) measurements of such mass squared differences by the phase II of the T2K (Tokai-to-Kamioka) experiment and by the novel Moessbauer enhanced resonant {bar {nu}}{sub e} absorption technique. Under optimistic assumptions for the systematic errors of both measurements, they determine the region of sensitivities where the mass hierarchy can be distinguished. Due to the tight space limitation, they present only the general idea and show a few most important plots.

The MiniBooNE Collaboration reports first results of a search for {nu}{sub e} appearance in a {nu}{sub {mu}} beam. With two largely independent analyses, we observe no significant excess of events above the background for reconstructed neutrino energies above 475 MeV. The data are consistent with no oscillations within a two-neutrino appearance-only oscillation model.

A measurement of hadron production cross-sections for the simulation of accelerator neutrino beams and a search for muon neutrino to electronneutrino oscillations in the Δm2 ~ 1 eV2} region. This dissertation presents measurements from two different high energy physics experiments with a very strong connection: the Hadron Production (HARP) experiment located at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Mini Booster Neutrino Experiment (Mini-BooNE) located at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois.

We propose to construct and deploy a fine-grained detector in the Fermilab NOvA 2 GeV narrow-band neutrino beam. In this beam, the detector can make unique contributions to the measurement of quasi-elastic scattering, neutral-current elastic scattering, neutral-current {pi}{sup 0} production, and enhance the NOvA measurements of electronneutrino appearance. To minimize cost and risks, the proposed detector is a copy of the SciBar detector originally built for the K2K long baseline experiment and used recently in the SciBooNE experiment.

We present results on a search for a heavy charged vector boson, W', decaying to an electron-neutrino pair in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 205 pb{sup -1}. We found no evidence of this decay channel, and set 95% confidence level limits on the production cross section times branching fraction assuming the light neutrino. We also set the limit on the W' boson mass at M{sub W'} > 788 GeV/c{sup 2}, assuming the standard model strength couplings.

We argue that the small fraction of neutrinos that undergo direction-changing scattering outside of the neutrinosphere could have significant influence on neutrino flavor transformation in core-collapse supernova environments. We show that the standard treatment for collective neutrino flavor transformation is adequate at late times but could be inadequate in early epochs of core-collapse supernovae, where the potentials that govern neutrino flavor evolution are affected by the scatteredneutrinos. Taking account of this effect, and the way it couples to entropy and composition, will require a new approach in neutrino flavor transformation modeling. PMID:23004955

A measurement of the reaction {nu}{sub {ital e}}+{ital e}{sup {minus}}{r arrow}{nu}{sub {ital e}}+{ital e}{sup {minus}} was performed using a beam-stop source of {nu}{sub {ital e}}. Based upon 234{plus minus}35 events, we obtain a cross section of {sigma}({nu}{sub {ital ee}})=(9.9{plus minus}1.5(stat){plus minus}1.0(syst)){times}10{sup {minus}42} cm{sup 2} {times}({ital E}{sub {nu}} (GeV)). This reaction is mediated by the exchange of {ital W} and {ital Z} bosons and is thus sensitive to the interference between them. This interference is measured to be {minus}1.07{plus minus}0.17(stat){plus minus}0.11(syst), consistent with the destructive interference ({minus}1.08) predicted by the standard model.

In muon-neutrino elastic scattering on electrons is an observable neutrino process whose cross section is precisely known. Consequently a measurement of this process in an accelerator-based νμ beam can improve the knowledge of the absolute neutrino flux impinging upon the detector; typically this knowledge is limited to ~10% due to uncertainties in hadron production and focusing. We also isolated a sample of 135±17 neutrino-electron elastic scattering candidates in the segmented scintillator detector of MINERvA, after subtracting backgrounds and correcting for efficiency. We show how this sample can be used to reduce the total uncertainty on the NuMI νμ flux frommore » 9% to 6%. Finally, our measurement provides a flux constraint that is useful to other experiments using the NuMI beam, and this technique is applicable to future neutrino beams operating at multi-GeV energies.« less

Muon-neutrino elastic scattering on electrons is an observable neutrino process whose cross section is precisely known. Consequently a measurement of this process in an accelerator-based νμ beam can improve the knowledge of the absolute neutrino flux impinging upon the detector; typically this knowledge is limited to ˜10 % due to uncertainties in hadron production and focusing. We have isolated a sample of 135 ±17 neutrino-electron elastic scattering candidates in the segmented scintillator detector of MINERvA, after subtracting backgrounds and correcting for efficiency. We show how this sample can be used to reduce the total uncertainty on the NuMI νμ flux from 9% to 6%. Our measurement provides a flux constraint that is useful to other experiments using the NuMI beam, and this technique is applicable to future neutrino beams operating at multi-GeV energies.

The authors present the results of a search for W{prime} boson decaying to electron-neutrino pairs in p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, using a data sample corresponding to 205 pb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at Fermilab. They observe no evidence for this decay mode and set limits on the production cross section times branching fraction, assuming the neutrinos from W{prime} boson decays to be light. If they assume the manifest left-right symmetric model, they exclude a W{prime} boson with mass less than 788 GeV/c{sup 2} at the 95% confidence level.

I describe physics potential and experimental prospects for coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS), a process which has not yet been observed. Germanium- based detectors represent a promising technology for CEvNS experiments. I focus primarily on stopped-pion neutrino sources.

Neutrino-electron elastic scattering was observed at LAMPF with a 15-ton fine-grained tracking calorimeter exposed to electron-neutrinos from muon decay at rest. The measured {nu}{sub e}e{sup {minus}} {yields} {nu}{sub e}e{sup {minus}} elastic scattering cross section, 10.0 {plus_minus} 1.5(stat) {plus_minus} 0.9(syst) {times} 10{sup {minus}45} cm{sup 2} {times} (E{sub {nu}}(MeV)), gives a model independent measurement of the strength of the destructive interference between the charged and neutral currents, I = {minus}1.07 {plus_minus} 0.21, that agrees well with the standard model (SM) prediction I = {minus}1.08. The agreement between the measured electroweak parameters and SM expectations is used to place limits on neutrino properties, such as neutrino flavor-changing neutral currents and neutrino electromagnetic moments, and on the masses of hypothetical new bosons that would interact with leptons.

We predict the neutrino-nucleon cross section at ultrahigh energies relevant in connection with the search for high-energy cosmic neutrinos. Our investigation, employing the color-dipole picture, among other things, allows us to quantitatively determine which fraction of the ultrahigh-energy neutrino-nucleon cross section stems from the saturation vs the color-transparency region. We disagree with various results in the literature that predict a strong suppression of the neutrino-nucleon cross section at neutrino energies above E≅109GeV. Suppression in the sense of a diminished increase of the neutrino-nucleon cross section with energy only starts to occur at neutrino energies beyond E≅1014GeV.

Neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering provides a unique laboratory to study the quantum mechanical coherency effects in electroweak interactions, towards which several experimental programs are being actively pursued. We report results of our quantitative studies on the transitions towards decoherency. A parameter (α ) is identified to describe the degree of coherency, and its variations with incoming neutrino energy, detector threshold, and target nucleus are studied. The ranges of α that can be probed with realistic neutrino experiments are derived, indicating complementarity between projects with different sources and targets. Uncertainties in nuclear physics and in α would constrain sensitivities in probing physics beyond the standard model. The maximum neutrino energies corresponding to α >0.95 are derived.

Neutrino-electron elastic scattering is used as a reference process to constrain the neutrino flux at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam observed by the MINERvA experiment. Prediction of the neutrino flux at accelerator experiments from other methods has a large uncertainty, and this uncertainty degrades measurements of neutrino oscillations and neutrino cross-sections. Neutrino-electron elastic scattering is a rare process, but its cross-section is precisely known. With a sample corresponding to $3.5\\times10^{20}$ protons on target in the NuMI low-energy neutrino beam, a sample of $120$ $\

There has recently been interest in the possibility that neutrino-electron scattering experiments could determine whether neutrinos are Dirac or Majorana particles by providing information on their electromagnetic structure. We try to explain why studies of neutrino electromagnetic structure actually cannot distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos. 9 refs.

Rates of coherent neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering at a high-intensity stopped-pion neutrino source in various detector materials (relevant for novel low-threshold detectors) are calculated. Sensitivity of a coherent neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering experiment to new physics is also explored.

We reviewed present status regarding theoretical approaches for neutrino-induced reactions and neutrinoscattering. With a short introduction of relevant data, our recent calculations by distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) for quasielastic region are presented for MiniBooNE data. We also discussed that one step-process estimated by the DWBA is comparable to the two-step process, which has been usually used in the neutrino-nucleosynthesis. For much higher energy neutrino data, such as NOMAD data, elementary process approach was shown to be useful instead of using complicated nuclear models. But, in the low energy region, detailed nuclear structure model, such as QRPA and shell model, turn out to be inescapable to explain the reaction data.

We present here a progress report on an experiment to measure the cross section for nu/sub ..mu../e scattering at the Brookhaven AGS. A wide band focussing horn is used with a neutrino beam energy centered at 1.5 GeV. We have in hand measurements with nu/sub ..mu../ and anti nu/sub ..mu../ beams but we present preliminary data on the nu/sub ..mu../ beam running only. We also measure the reactions: nu/sub ..mu../ + n ..-->.. ..mu../sup -/ + p and nu/sub e/ + n ..-->.. e/sup -/ + p which will be used in normalization and in background estimation.

With the advent of high precision neutrinoscattering experiments comes the need for improved radiative corrections. We present a phenomenological analysis of some contributions to the production of photons in neutrino neutral current scattering that are relevant to experiments subsuming the 1% level of accuracy.

Neutrino experiments use heavy nuclei (C, Fe, Pb) to achieve necessary statistics. However, the use of heavy nuclei exposes these experiments to the nuclear dependence of neutrino-nucleus cross sections, which are poorly known and difficult to model. This dissertation presents an analysis of the nuclear dependence of inclusive chargedcurrent neutrinoscattering using events in carbon, iron, lead, and scintillator targets of the MINERvA detector. MINERvA (Main INjector ExpeRiment for -A) is a few-GeV neutrinonucleus scattering experiment at Fermilab.

For liquid-scintillator neutrino detectors of kiloton scale, the transparency of the organic solvent is of central importance. The present paper reports on laboratory measurements of the optical scattering lengths of the organic solvents phenylxylylethane, linear alkylbenzene (LAB), and dodecane, which are under discussion for next-generation experiments such as SNO+ (Sudbury Neutrino Observatory), HanoHano, or LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy). Results comprise the wavelength range of 415-440 nm. The contributions from Rayleigh and Mie scattering as well as from absorption/re-emission processes are discussed. Based on the present results, LAB seems to be the preferred solvent for a large-volume detector.

We present a derivation of the total cross section for inelastic scattering of low-energy solar neutrinos and reactor antineutrinos on bound electrons, resulting in a transition of the electron to an excited state. The atomic-shell structure of various chemical elements is treated in terms of a nonrelativistic approximation. We estimate the interaction rates for modern neutrino detectors, in particular the Borexino and GEMMA experiments. We establish that in these experiments the effect can be safely neglected, but it could be accessible to future large-volume neutrino detectors with low energy threshold.

We present a derivation of the total cross section for inelastic scattering of low-energy solar neutrinos and reactor antineutrinos on bound electrons, resulting in a transition of the electron to an excited state. The atomic-shell structure of various chemical elements is treated in terms of a nonrelativistic approximation. We estimate the interaction rates for modern neutrino detectors, in particular the Borexino and GEMMA experiments. We establish that in these experiments the effect can be safely neglected, but it could be accessible to future large-volume neutrino detectors with low energy threshold.

Core-collapse supernova neutrinos undergo a variety of phenomena when they travel from the high neutrino density region and large matter densities to the Earth. We perform analytical calculations of the supernova neutrino fluxes including collective effects due to the neutrino-neutrino interactions, the Mikheev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect due to the neutrino interactions with the background matter and decoherence of the wave packets as they propagate in space. We predict the numbers of one- and two-neutron charged and neutral-current electron-neutrinoscattering on lead events. We show that, due to the energy thresholds, the ratios of one- to two-neutron events are sensitive to the pinching parameters of neutrino fluxes at the neutrinosphere, almost independently of the presently unknown neutrino properties. Besides, such events have an interesting sensitivity to the spectral split features that depend upon the presence/absence of energy equipartition among neutrino flavors. Our calculations show that a lead-based observatory like the Helium And Lead Observatory (HALO) has the potential to pin down important characteristics of the neutrino fluxes at the neutrinosphere, and provide us with information on the neutrino transport in the supernova core.

In this paper, we analyze the theoretically possible scenario beyond the standard model in order to show how the presence of the exotic scalar, tensor, {V}+{A} weak interactions in addition to the standard vector-axial ({V}-{A}) ones may help to distinguish the Dirac from Majorana neutrinos in the elastic scattering of an (anti)neutrino beam off the unpolarized electrons in the relativistic limit. We assume that the incoming (anti)neutrino beam comes from the polarized muon decay at rest and is the left-right chiral superposition with assigned direction of the transversal spin polarization with respect to the production plane. Our analysis is carried out for the flavour (current) neutrino eigenstates. It means that the transverse neutrino polarization estimates are the same both for the Dirac and Majorana cases. We display that the azimuthal asymmetry in the angular distribution of recoil electrons is generated by the interference terms between the standard and exotic couplings, which are proportional to the transversal (anti)neutrino spin polarization and independent of the neutrino mass. This asymmetry for the Majorana neutrinos is larger than for the Dirac ones. We also indicate the possibility of utilizing the azimuthal asymmetry measurements to search for the new CP-violating phases. Our study is based on the assumption that the possible detector (running for 1 year) has the shape of a flat circular ring, while the intense neutrino source is located in the centre of the ring and polarized perpendicularly to the ring. In addition, the large low-threshold, real-time detector is able to measure with a high resolution both the polar angle and the azimuthal angle of outgoing electron momentum. Our analysis is model-independent and consistent with the current upper limits on the non-standard couplings.

Solar neutrinos, since their first detection nearly forty years ago, have revealed valuable information regarding the source of energy production in the Sun, and have demonstrated that neutrino oscillations are well described by the Large Mixing Angle (LMA) oscillation parameters with matter interactions due to the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect. This thesis presents a precision measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino interaction rate within Borexino, an underground liquid scintillator detector that is designed to measure solar neutrino interactions through neutrino-electron elastic scattering. The thesis includes a detailed description of the analysis techniques developed and used for this measurement as well as an evaluation of the relevant systematic uncertainties that affect the precision of the result. The rate of neutrino-electron elastic scattering from 0.862 MeV 7Be neutrinos is determined to be 45.4 +/- 1.6 (stat) +/- 1.5 (sys) counts/day/100 ton. Due to extensive detector calibrations and improved analysis methods, the systematic uncertainty in the interaction rate has been reduced by more than a factor of two from the previous evaluation. In the no-oscillation hypothesis, the interaction rate corresponds to a 0.862 MeV 7Be electronneutrino flux of (2.75 +/- 0.13) x 10 9 cm-2 sec-1. Including the predicted neutrino flux from the Standard Solar Model yields an electronneutrino survival probability of Pee 0.51 +/- 0.07 and rules out the no-oscillation hypothesis at 5.1sigma The LMA-MSW neutrino oscillation model predicts a transition in the solar Pee value between low (< 1 MeV) and high (> 10 MeV) energies which has not yet been experimentally confirmed. This result, in conjunction with the Standard Solar Model, represents the most precise measurement of the electronneutrino survival probability for solar neutrinos at sub-MeV energies.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a large-volume heavy water Cerenkov detector designed to resolve the solar neutrino problem. SNO observes charged-current interactions with electronneutrinos, neutral-current interactions with all active neutrinos, and elastic-scattering interactions primarily with electronneutrinos with some sensitivity to other flavors. This dissertation presents an analysis of the solar neutrino flux observed in SNO in the second phase of operation, while {approx}2 tonnes of salt (NaCl) were dissolved in the heavy water. The dataset here represents 391 live days of data. Only the events above a visible energy threshold of 5.5 MeV and inside a fiducial volume within 550 cm of the center of the detector are studied. The neutrino flux observed via the charged-current interaction is [1.71 {+-} 0.065(stat.){+-}{sub 0.068}{sup 0.065}(sys.){+-}0.02(theor.)] x 10{sup 6}cm{sup -2}s{sup -1}, via the elastic-scattering interaction is [2.21{+-}0.22(stat.){+-}{sub 0.12}{sup 0.11}(sys.){+-}0.01(theor.)] x 10{sup 6}cm{sup -2}s{sup -1}, and via the neutral-current interaction is [5.05{+-}0.23(stat.){+-}{sub 0.37}{sup 0.31}(sys.){+-}0.06(theor.)] x 10{sup 6}cm{sup -2}s{sup -1}. The electron-only flux seen via the charged-current interaction is more than 7{sigma} below the total active flux seen via the neutral-current interaction, providing strong evidence that neutrinos are undergoing flavor transformation as they travel from the core of the Sun to the Earth. The most likely origin of the flavor transformation is matter-induced flavor oscillation.

We discuss prospects for probing Z -prime and nonstandard neutrino interactions using neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering with ultralow energy (˜10 eV ) threshold Si and Ge detectors. The analysis is performed in the context of a specific and contemporary reactor-based experimental proposal, developed in cooperation with the Nuclear Science Center at Texas A&M University, and referencing available technology based upon economical and scalable detector arrays. For expected exposures, we show that sensitivity to the Z -prime mass is on the order of several TeV and is complementary to the LHC search with low-mass detectors in the near term. This technology is also shown to provide sensitivity to the neutrino magnetic moment, at a level that surpasses terrestrial limits, and is competitive with more stringent astrophysical bounds. We demonstrate the benefits of combining silicon and germanium detectors for distinguishing between classes of models of new physics and for suppressing correlated systematic uncertainties.

Background: Neutrino-pair bremsstrahlung processes from nucleon-nucleon scattering ΝΝνν¯ (nnvv¯, ppvv¯, and npvv¯) have recently attracted attention in studies of neutrino emission in neutron stars, because of the implications for the neutron star cooling. The calculated ΝΝνν¯ emissivities within the neutron star environment are relatively insensitive to the two-nucleon dynamical model used in the calculations, but differ significantly from those obtained using an OPE model. Purpose: To investigate the free ΝΝνν¯ cross sections using a realistic nucleon-nucleon scattering amplitude, comparing the relative sizes of the cross sections for the three processes nnvv¯, ppvv¯, and npvv¯.

We review the theory and phenomenology of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS). After a brief introduction, we summarize the places where CEνNS is already in use and then turn to future physics opportunities from CEνNS. CEνNS has been proposed as a way to limit or discover beyond the standard model physics, measure the nuclear-neutron radius and constrain the Weinberg angle.

This study examines the cosmological impacts of a light resonantly produced sterile neutrino in the early universe. Such a neutrino could be produced through lepton number-driven Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) conversion of active neutrinos around big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), resulting in a non-thermal spectrum of both sterile and electronneutrinos. During BBN, the neutron-proton ratio depends sensitively on the electronneutrino flux. If electronneutrinos are being converted to sterile neutrinos, this makes the n/p ratio a probe of possible new physics. We use observations of primordial Yp and D/H to place limits on this process.

We present a model for inclusive electron and neutrinoscattering off nuclei paying special attention to the influence of in-medium effects on the quasielastic scattering and pion-production mechanisms. Our results for electron scattering off {sup 16}O are compared to experimental data at beam energies ranging from 0.7 to 1.5 GeV. The good description of electron scattering serves as a benchmark for neutrinoscattering.

The spectral functions that are used in modeling of quasi elastic scattering in neutrino event generators such as GENIE, NEUT, NUANCE and NUWRO event generators include (Global) Fermi gas, local Fermi gas, Bodek-Ritche Fermi gas with high momentum tail, and the Benhar Fantoni spectral function. We find that these spectral functions do not agree with the prediction of ψ' superscaling functions that are extracted from electron quasi elastic scattering data on nuclear targets. It is known that spectral functions do not fully describe quasi elastic scattering because they only model the initial state. Final state interactions distort the shape of the quasi elastic peak, reduce the cross section at the peak and increase the cross section at the tail of the distribution for large energy transfer to final state nucleons. We show that an ``effective spectral function'' can be constructed to reliably reproduce the kinematic distributions predicted by the ψ' super scaling formalism.

Neutrino oscillation was discovered through studies of neutrinos produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere. These neutrinos are called atmospheric neutrinos. They are produced as decay products in hadronic showers resulting from collisions of cosmic rays with nuclei in the atmosphere. Electron-neutrinos and muon-neutrinos are produced mainly by the decay chain of charged pions to muons to electrons. Atmospheric neutrino experiments observed zenith-angle and energy dependent deficit of muon-neutrino events. Neutrino oscillations between muon-neutrinos and tau-neutrinos explain these data well. Neutrino oscillations imply that neutrinos have small but non-zero masses. The small neutrino masses have profound implications to our understanding of elementary particle physics and the Universe. This article discusses the experimental discovery of neutrino oscillations. PMID:20431258

The exact expressions needed in the neutrino transport equations for scattering of all three flavors of neutrinos and antineutrinos off free protons and neutrons, and for electronneutrino absorption on neutrons and electron antineutrino absorption on protons, are derived under the assumption that nucleons are noninteracting particles. The standard approximations even with corrections for degeneracy, are found to be poor fits to the exact results. Improved approximations are constructed which are adequate for nondegenerate nucleons for neutrino energies from 1 to 160 MeV and temperatures from 1 to 50 MeV.

Coherent scattering is a flavor-blind, high-rate, as yet undetected neutrino interaction predicted by the Standard Model. We propose to use a compact (kg-scale), two-phase (liquid-gas) argon ionization detector to measure coherent neutrinoscattering off nuclei. In our approach, neutrino-induced nuclear recoils in the liquid produce a weak ionization signal, which is transported into a gas under the influence of an electric field, amplified via electroluminescence, and detected by phototubes or avalanche diodes. This paper describes the features of the detector, and estimates signal and background rates for a reactor neutrino source. Relatively compact detectors of this type, capable of detecting coherent scattering, offer a new approach to flavor-blind detection of man-made and astronomical neutrinos, and may allow development of compact neutrino detectors capable of nonintrusive real-time monitoring of fissile material in reactors.

The theory and phenomenology of neutrinos will be addressed, especially that relating to the observation of neutrino flavor transformations. The current status and implications for future experiments will be discussed with special emphasis on the experiments that will determine the neutrino mass ordering, the dominant flavor content of the neutrino mass eigenstate with the smallest electronneutrino content and the size of CP violation in the neutrino sector. Beyond the neutrino Standard Model, the evidence for and a possible definitive experiment to confirm or refute the existence of light sterile neutrinos will be briefly discussed.

It is now firmly established that neutrinos, which are copiously produced in the hot and dense core of the supernova, play a role in the supernova explosion mechanism and in the synthesis of heavy elements through a phenomena known as r-process nucleosynthesis. They are also detectable in terrestrial neutrino experiments, and serve as a probe of the extreme environment and complex dynamics encountered in the supernova. The major goal of the UW research activity relevant to this project was to calculate the neutrino interaction rates in hot and dense matter of relevance to core collapse supernova. These serve as key input physics in large scale computer simulations of the supernova dynamics and nucleosynthesis being pursued at national laboratories here in the United States and by other groups in Europe and Japan. Our calculations show that neutrino production and scattering rate are altered by the nuclear interactions and that these modifications have important implications for nucleosynthesis and terrestrial neutrino detection. The calculation of neutrino rates in dense matter are difficult because nucleons in the dense matter are strongly coupled. A neutrino interacts with several nucleons and the quantum interference between scattering off different nucleons depends on the nature of correlations between them in dense matter. To describe these correlations we used analytic methods based on mean field theory and hydrodynamics, and computational methods such as Quantum Monte Carlo. We found that due to nuclear effects neutrino production rates at relevant temperatures are enhanced, and that electronneutrinos are more easily absorbed than anti-electronneutrinos in dense matter. The latter, was shown to favor synthesis of heavy neutron-rich elements in the supernova.

The dynamics of core-collapse supernovae is sensitive to neutrinoscattering. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we calculated ion static structure factors and neutrino mean free paths. We simulated the stellar medium as composed in one case by single ion specie, and in the other by a mixture of ions. For the heterogeneous plasma we used two different models and systematically found the neutrino mean free path is shorter for an ion mixture.

The experiment described in this Letter of Intent provides a decisive measurement of {Delta}s, the spin of the nucleon carried by strange quarks. This is crucial as, after more than thirty years of study, the spin contribution of strange quarks to the nucleon is still not understood. The interpretation of {Delta}s measurements from inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) experiments using charged leptons suffers from two questionable techniques; an assumption of SU(3)-flavor symmetry, and an extrapolation into unmeasured kinematic regions, both of which provide ample room for uncertain theoretical errors in the results. The results of recent semi-inclusive DIS data from HERMES paint a somewhat different picture of the contribution of strange quarks to the nucleon spin than do the inclusive results, but since HERMES does not make use of either of the above-mentioned techniques, then the results are somewhat incomparable. What is required is a measurement directly probing the spin contribution of the strange quarks in the nucleon. Neutrino experiments provide a theoretically clean and robust method of determining {Delta}s by comparing the neutral current interaction, which is isoscalar plus isovector, to the charged current interaction, which is strictly isovector. A past experiment, E734, performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory, has pioneered this effort. Building on what they have learned, we present an experiment which achieves a measurement to {+-} 0.025 using neutrinoscattering, and {+-} 0.04 using anti-neutrinoscattering, significantly better than past measurements. The combination of the neutrino and anti-neutrino data, when combined with the results of the parity-violating electron-nucleon scattering data, will produce the most significant result for {Delta}s. This experiment can also measure neutrino cross sections in the energy range required for accelerator-based precision oscillation measurements. Accurate measurements of cross sections have been

I will report preliminary results on elastic neutrino-electron scattering from data taken with the 200 ton segmented liquid scintillator - proportional drift-tube neutrino detector at Brookhaven. Features of the detector (such as the active target and long radiation length) permit a uniquely clean signal. Prospects of results from the completed analysis and further data taking are discussed.

An analytic expression for the neutrino charged current structure function F sub 2 (x, Q sup 2) in deep inelastic scattering, consistent with quantum chromodynamics, is proposed. The calculated results are in good agreement with experiment.

Differential, total, and cumulative cross section calculations for neutral current neutrinoscattering on {sup 128,130}Te isotopes are performed in the context of the quasiparticle random phase approximation by utilizing realistic two-nucleon forces. These isotopes are the main contents of detectors of ongoing experiments with multiple neutrino physics goals (COBRA and CUORE at Gran Sasso), including potential low-energy astrophysical neutrino (solar, supernova, geoneutrinos) detection. The incoming neutrino energy range adopted in our calculations ({epsilon}{sub {nu}{<=}1}00 MeV) covers the low-energy {beta}-beam neutrinos and the pion-muon stopped neutrino beams existing or planned to be conducted at future neutron spallation sources. The aim of these facilities is to measure neutrino-nucleus cross sections at low and intermediate neutrino energies with the hope of shedding light on open problems in neutrino-induced reactions on nuclei and neutrino astrophysics. Such probes motivate theoretical studies on weak responses of various nuclear systems; thus the evaluated cross sections may be useful in this direction.

Precision electroweak physics can provide fertile ground for uncovering new physics beyond the standard model (SM). One area in which new physics can appear is in so-called 'oblique corrections', i.e., next-to-leading-order expansions of bosonic propagators corresponding to vacuum polarization. One may parametrize their effects in terms of quantities S and T that discriminate between conservation and nonconservation of isospin. This provides a means of comparing the relative contributions of precision electroweak experiments to constraints on new physics. Given the prevalence of strongly T-sensitive experiments, there is an acute need for further constraints on S, such as provided by atomic parity-violating experiments on heavy atoms. We evaluate constraints on S arising from recently improved calculations in the Cs atom. We show that the top quark mass m{sub t} provides stringent constraints on S within the context of the SM. We also consider the potential contributions of next-generation neutrinoscattering experiments to improved (S,T) constraints.

Quasielastic neutrino-nucleon scattering is a basic signal process for neutrino oscillation studies. At accelerator energies, the corresponding cross section is subject to significant uncertainty due to the poorly constrained axial-vector form factor of the nucleon. A model-independent description of the axial-vector form factor is presented. Data from the MiniBooNE experiment for quasielastic neutrinoscattering on {sup 12}C are analyzed under the assumption of a definite nuclear model. The value of the axial mass parameter, m{sub A}=0.85{sub -0.07}{sup +0.22}{+-}0.09 GeV, is found to differ significantly from extractions based on traditional form factor models. Implications for future neutrinoscattering and pion electroproduction measurements are discussed.

The MINER{nu}A experiment at Fermilab is aimed at precision measurements of neutrino interactions in nuclei for energies up to a few GeV. MINER{nu}A makes use of a fine-grained, fully active detector design and a range of nuclear target materials. The experiment began taking data in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab in late 2009 and will collect data in both the neutrino and antineutrino configurations of the beamline.

Differential and integrated cross sections for inelastic scattering of electronneutrinos from a {sup 116}Cd target at low and intermediate neutrino energies ({epsilon}{sub i}{<=}100 MeV) are presented. The nuclear wave functions for the initial and final nuclear states are constructed in the context of quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA). By exploiting the results of these cross sections, we study the response of {sup 116}Cd to supernova neutrino spectra by utilizing the folding procedure and employing a two-parameter Fermi-Dirac distribution for the supernova neutrino spectra. Our results show that, this isotope may play a significant role in supernova neutrino detection, in addition to its use in double-beta-decay experiments (COBRA, etc)

The phenomenon of neutrino oscillation is becoming increasingly understood with results from accelerator-based and reactor-based experiments, but unanswered questions remain. The proper ordering of the neutrino mass eigenstates that compose the neutrino avor eigenstates is not completely known. We have yet to detect CP violation in neutrino mixing, which if present could help explain the asymmetry between matter and anti-matter in the universe. We also have not resolved whether sterile neutrinos, which do not interact in any Standard Model interaction, exist. Accelerator-based experiments appear to be the most promising candidates for resolving these questions; however, the ability of present and future experiments to provide answers is likely to be limited by systematic errors. A significant source of this systematic error comes from limitations in our knowledge of neutrino-nucleus interactions. Errors on cross-sections for such interactions are large, existing data is sometimes contradictory, and knowledge of nuclear effects is incomplete. One type of neutrino interaction of particular interest is charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) scattering, which yields a final state consisting of a charged lepton and nucleon. This process, which is the dominant interaction near energies of 1 GeV, is of great utility to neutrino oscillation experiments since the incoming neutrino energy and the square of the momentum transferred to the final state nucleon, Q2, can be reconstructed using the final state lepton kinematics. To address the uncertainty in our knowledge of neutrino interactions, many experiments have begun making dedicated measurements. In particular, the MINER A experiment is studying neutrino-nucleus interactions in the few GeV region. MINERvA is a fine-grained, high precision, high statistics neutrinoscattering experiment that will greatly improve our understanding of neutrino cross-sections and nuclear effects that affect the final state particles

A model is presented accommodating a 17-keV neutrino with 1 percent mixing with the electronneutrino and bounds on the electron-neutrino mass and neutrinoless double-beta decay. However, in contrast to previous models, there is only a single state with mass 17 keV. This model is consistent with cosmological and supernova-cooling constraints, and incorporates the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein explanation of the low solar-neutrino counts. Possible signatures of this model include an excess of muon neutrinos from a supernova explosion, spread over a period of 10-1000 sec, and a Higgs-boson decay signature of leptons plus missing energy.

We report results from the first search for νμ→νe transitions by the NOvA experiment. In an exposure equivalent to 2.74 ×1020 protons on target in the upgraded NuMI beam at Fermilab, we observe 6 events in the Far Detector, compared to a background expectation of 0.99 ±0.11 (syst) events based on the Near Detector measurement. A secondary analysis observes 11 events with a background of 1.07 ±0.14 (syst) . The 3.3 σ excess of events observed in the primary analysis disfavors 0.1 π

We report results from the first search for ν_{μ}→ν_{e} transitions by the NOvA experiment. In an exposure equivalent to 2.74×10^{20} protons on target in the upgraded NuMI beam at Fermilab, we observe 6 events in the Far Detector, compared to a background expectation of 0.99±0.11(syst) events based on the Near Detector measurement. A secondary analysis observes 11 events with a background of 1.07±0.14(syst). The 3.3σ excess of events observed in the primary analysis disfavors 0.1π

The nucleon-nucleon scattering in a large magnetic background is considered to find its potential to change the neutrino emissivity of the neutron stars. For this purpose, we consider the one-pion-exchange approximation to find the nucleon-nucleon (NN) cross section in a background field as large as 10{sup 15}-10{sup 18} G. We show that the NN cross section in neutron stars with temperatures in the range 0.1-5 MeV can be changed up to the 1 order of magnitude with respect to the one in the absence of the magnetic field. In the limit of the soft neutrino emission, the neutrino emissivity can be written in terms of the NN-scattering amplitude; therefore, the large magnetic fields can dramatically change the neutrino emissivity of the neutron stars as well.

We have set up a light scattering spectrometer to study the depolarization of light scattering in linear alkylbenzene. The scattering spectra show that the depolarized part of light scattering is due to Rayleigh scattering. The additional depolarized Rayleigh scattering can make the effective transparency of linear alkylbenzene much better than expected. Therefore, sufficient scintillation photons can transmit through large liquid scintillator detector, such as that of the JUNO experiment. Our study is crucial to achieving an unprecedented energy resolution of 3 %/√{E{(MeV)}} required for the JUNO experiment to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. The spectroscopic method can also be used to examine the depolarization of other organic solvents used in neutrino experiments.

The cross section for ultrahigh energy neutrino-nucleon scattering is very sensitive to the parton distributions at very small values of Bjorken x (x{<=}10{sup -4}). We numerically investigate the effects of modifying the behavior of the gluon distribution function at very small x in the DGLAP evolution equation. We then use the Color Glass Condensate formalism to calculate the neutrino-nucleon cross section at ultrahigh energies and compare the result with those based on modification of DGLAP evolution equation.

Oscillations of three neutrinos in matter are analyzed by using the Magnus expansion for the time-evolution operator. We derive a simple expression for the electron-neutrino survival probability which is applied to the examination of the effect of a third neutrino on the nonadiabatic flavor transformations. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

Accurate knowledge about the nuclear responses to supernova neutrinos for relevant nuclear targets is important both for neutrino detection and for astrophysical applications. In this paper we discuss the cross sections for the charged-current neutrino-nucleus scatterings off {sup 95,97}Mo and {sup 116}Cd. The microscopic quasiparticle-phonon model is adopted for the odd-even nuclei {sup 95,97}Mo. In the case of {sup 116}Cd we present cross sections both for the Bonn one-boson-exchange potential and self-consistent calculations based on modern Skyrme interactions.

The observation of neutrino oscillations is clear evidence for physics beyond the standard model. To make precise measurements of this phenomenon, neutrino oscillation experiments, including MiniBooNE, require an accurate description of neutrino charged current quasielastic (CCQE) cross sections to predict signal samples. Using a high-statistics sample of {nu}{sub {mu}} CCQE events, MiniBooNE finds that a simple Fermi gas model, with appropriate adjustments, accurately characterizes the CCQE events observed in a carbon-based detector. The extracted parameters include an effective axial mass, M{sub A}{sup eff}=1.23{+-}0.20 GeV, that describes the four-momentum dependence of the axial-vector form factor of the nucleon, and a Pauli-suppression parameter, {kappa}=1.019{+-}0.011. Such a modified Fermi gas model may also be used by future accelerator-based experiments measuring neutrino oscillations on nuclear targets.

Here, the MINERvA Collaboration reports a novel study of neutrino-nucleus charged-current deep inelastic scattering (DIS) using the same neutrino beam incident on targets of polystyrene, graphite, iron, and lead. Results are presented as ratios of C, Fe, and Pb to CH. The ratios of total DIS cross sections as a function of neutrino energy and flux-integrated differential cross sections as a function of the Bjorken scaling variable x are presented in the neutrino-energy range of 5–50 GeV. Based on the predictions of charged-lepton scattering ratios, good agreement is found between the data and prediction at medium x and low neutrino energy.more » However, the ratios appear to be below predictions in the vicinity of the nuclear shadowing region, x < 0.1. This apparent deficit, reflected in the DIS cross-section ratio at high Eν, is consistent with previous MINERvA observations [B. Tice (MINERvA Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 231801 (2014).] and with the predicted onset of nuclear shadowing with the axial-vector current in neutrinoscattering.« less

The MINERvA Collaboration reports a novel study of neutrino-nucleus charged-current deep inelastic scattering (DIS) using the same neutrino beam incident on targets of polystyrene, graphite, iron, and lead. Results are presented as ratios of C, Fe, and Pb to CH. The ratios of total DIS cross sections as a function of neutrino energy and flux-integrated differential cross sections as a function of the Bjorken scaling variable x are presented in the neutrino-energy range of 5-50 GeV. Based on the predictions of charged-lepton scattering ratios, good agreement is found between the data and prediction at medium x and low neutrino energy. However, the ratios appear to be below predictions in the vicinity of the nuclear shadowing region, x <0.1 . This apparent deficit, reflected in the DIS cross-section ratio at high Eν, is consistent with previous MINERvA observations [B. Tice et al. (MINERvA Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 231801 (2014).] and with the predicted onset of nuclear shadowing with the axial-vector current in neutrinoscattering.

We apply the Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) model to questions relevant to current and future long-baseline neutrino experiments, and we address in particular the relevance of charged-current reactions for neutrino-disappearance experiments. A correct identification of charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) events--which is the signal channel in oscillation experiments--is relevant for neutrino energy reconstruction and thus for the oscillation result. We show that about 20% of the quasielastic cross section is misidentified in present-day experiments and has to be corrected for by means of event generators. Furthermore, we show that a significant part of 1pi{sup +} (> 40%) events is misidentified as CCQE events, mainly caused by pion absorption in the nucleus. We also discuss the dependence of both of these numbers on experimental detection thresholds. We further investigate the influence of final-state interactions on the neutrino energy reconstruction.

We propose to build and deploy a 10-kg dual-phase argon ionization detector for the detection of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, which is described by the reaction; {nu} + (Z,N) {yields} {nu} + (Z,N), where {nu} is the scatteringneutrino, and (Z,N) is the target nucleus of atomic number Z and neutron number N. Its detection would validate central tenets of the Standard Model. We have built a gas-phase argon ionization detector to determine the feasibility of measuring the small recoil energies ({approx} 1keV) predicted from coherent neutrinoscattering, and to characterize the recoil spectrum of the argon nuclei induced by scattering from medium-energy neutrons. We present calibrations made with 55-Fe, a low-energy X-ray source, and report on measurements to date of the recoil spectra from the 2-MeV LINAC Li-target neutron source at LLNL. A high signal-to-noise measurement of the recoil spectrum will not only serve as an important milestone in achieving the sensitivity necessary for measuring coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, but will break new scientific ground on its own.

We propose to detect and study neutrino neutral elastic coherent scattering off atomic nuclei with two-phase emission detector with liquid xenon as a target medium. One of the possible experimental site is a Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) situated in the Russian Federation. In this paper we discuss the design of the detector and expected signals and background for this site.

When the existence of the neutrino was almost apologetically first proposed by Wolfgang Pauli it was intended to explain the mysterious apparent absence of energy and momentum in beta decay. 70 years later the neutrino has indeed solved that mystery, but it has generated still more of its own. Are neutrinos massive? Is it possible to create a neutrino with its spin in the same direction as its momentum? What fraction of the mass of the Universe is made up of neutrinos? Are the flavour labels which we put on neutrinos, like electron and muon, really fixed or can they change? Why does no experiment see the predicted flux of neutrinos from the Sun? Why do there appear to be roughly equal numbers of muon and electronneutrinos created in our atmosphere, rather than the 2:1 ratio we would expect? Many of these questions were coupled when Bruno Pontecorvo first suggested that the shortfall in solar neutrino measurements were caused by neutrino oscillations - neutrinos spontaneously changing flavour as they travel from the Sun. 30 years later we still await definitive proof of that conjecture, and providing that proof is the reason for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. The talk will discuss the current state of neutrino oscillations studies, and show how the unique capabilities of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory can provide definitive proof of whether neutrino oscillations are the long-sought answer to the solar neutrino problem.

In this paper, we study the effect of conversion of super-light sterile neutrino (SLSN) to electronneutrino in matter like that of the Earth. In the Sun the resonance conversion between SLSN and electronneutrino via the neutral current is suppressed due to the smallness of neutron number. On the other hand, neutron number density can play an important role in the Earth, making the scenario of SLSN quite interesting. The effect of CP-violating phases on active-SLSN oscillations is also discussed. Reactor neutrino experiments with medium or short baseline may probe the scenario of SLSN.

The main part of coherent pion production by neutrinos on nuclei is essentially determined by partial conservation of the axial current (PCAC), provided that the leptonic momentum transferred square Q{sup 2} remains sufficiently small. We give the formulas for the charged and neutral current cross sections, including also the small non-PCAC transverse current contributions and taking into account the effect of the {mu}{sup -}-mass. Our results are compared with the experimental ones and other theoretical treatments.

The Giessen BUU transport approach applied to electroweak interactions on nuclei in the few-GeV region is presented. After describing the model ingredients (elementary cross sections, medium effects and final state interactions), the impact of nuclear effects on the observables is discussed. We emphasize the interconnection of quasielastic and pion production processes, which receive a unified treatment, and its relevance for present neutrino experiments.

Conceptual design studies are underway for both muon colliders and high-current non-colliding muon storage rings that have the potential to become the first true neutrino factories. Muon decays in long straight sections of the storage rings would produce uniquely intense and precisely characterized two-component neutrino beams--muon neutrinos plus electron antineutrinos from negative muon decays and electronneutrinos plus muon antineutrinos from positive muons. This article presents a long-term overview of the prospects for these facilities to greatly extend the capabilities for accelerator-based neutrino physics studies for both high rate and long baseline neutrino experiments. As the first major physics topic, recent experimental results involving neutrino oscillations have motivated a vigorous design effort towards dedicated neutrino factories that would store muon beams of energies 50 GeV or below. These facilities hold the promise of neutrino oscillation experiments with baselines up to intercontinental distances and utilizing well understood beams that contain, for the first time, a substantial component of multi-GeV electron-flavored neutrinos. In deference to the active and fast-moving nature of neutrino oscillation studies, the discussion of long baseline physics at neutrino factories has been limited to a concise general overview of the relevant theory, detector technologies, beam properties, experimental goals and potential physics capabilities. The remainder of the article is devoted to the complementary high rate neutrino experiments that would study neutrino-nucleon and neutrino-electron scattering and would be performed at high performance detectors placed as close as is practical to the neutrino production straight section of muon storage rings in order to exploit beams with transverse dimensions as small as a few tens of centimeters.

The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment based at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) in Chicago, Illinois. MINOS measures neutrino interactions in two large iron-scintillator tracking/sampling calorimeters; the Near Detector on-site at FNAL and the Far Detector located in the Soudan mine in northern Minnesota. The Near Detector has recorded a large number of neutrino interactions and this high statistics dataset can be used to make precision measurements of neutrino interaction cross sections. The cross section for charged-current quasi-elastic scattering has been measured by a number of previous experiments and these measurements disagree by up to 30%. A method to select a quasi-elastic enriched sample of neutrino interactions in the MINOS Near Detector is presented and a procedure to fit the kinematic distributions of this sample and extract the quasi-elastic cross section is introduced. The accuracy and robustness of the fitting procedure is studied using mock data and finally results from fits to the MINOS Near Detector data are presented.

The superscaling approach (SuSA) to neutrino-nucleus scattering, based on the assumed universality of the scaling function for electromagnetic and weak interactions, is reviewed. The predictions of the SuSA model for bot CC and NC differential and total cross sections are presented and compared with the MiniBooNE data. The role of scaling violations, in particular the contribution of meson exchange currents in the two-particle two-hole sector, is explored.

Neutrinos represent a new “window” to the Universe, spanning a large range of energy. We discuss the science of neutrino astrophysics and focus on two energy regimes. At “lower” energies (≈1 MeV), studies of neutrinos born inside the sun, or produced in interactions of cosmic rays with the atmosphere, have allowed the first incontrovertible evidence that neutrinos have mass. At energies typically one thousand to one million times higher, sources further than the sun (both within the Milky Way and beyond) are expected to produce a flux of particles that can be detected only through neutrinos. PMID:10588680

Low energy photon production is an important background to many current and future precision neutrino experiments. We present a phenomenological study of t-channel radiative corrections to neutral current neutrino nucleus scattering. After introducing the relevant processes and phenomenological coupling constants, we will explore the derived energy and angular distributions as well as total cross-section predictions along with their estimated uncertainties. This is supplemented throughout with comments on possible experimental signatures and implications. We conclude with a general discussion of the analysis in the context of complimentary methodologies. This is based on a talk presented at the DPF 2009 meeting in Detroit MI.

The cross section for ultra-high energy neutrino-nucleon scattering is very sensitive to the parton distributions at very small values of Bjorken x (x {<=} 10-4). We numerically investigate the effects of modifying the behavior of the gluon distribution function at very small x in the DGLAP evolution equation. We then use the Color Glass Condensate formalism to calculate the neutrino-nucleon cross section at ultra-high energies and compare the result with those based on modification of DGLAP evolution equation.

The field of oscillation physics is about to make an enormous leap forward in statistical precision: first through the MINOS experiment in the coming year, and later through the NOvA and T2K experiments. Because of the relatively poor understanding of neutrino interactions in the energy ranges of these experiments, there are systematics that can arise in interpreting far detector data that can be as large as or even larger than the expected statistical uncertainties. We describe how these systematic errors arise, and how specific measurements in a dedicated neutrinoscattering experiment like MINERvA can reduce the cross section systematic errors to well below the statistical errors.

The NuMI facility at Fermilab is currently providing an extremely intense beam of neutrinos for the NOνA, MINERνA and MINOS+ experiments. By installing the 5-ton CAPTAIN liquid argon TPC in front of the MINERνA detector in the NuMI beamline and combining the data from the CAPTAIN, MINERνA and MINOS+ detectors, a broad program of few-GeV neutrino cross section measurements on argon can be pursued. These measurements will be extremely helpful for future oscillation experiments. By directly comparing the cross sections on argon to MINERνA’s scintillator (CH) target, a new level of precision can be achieved in the measurements of the effects of the nucleus on neutrino interactions. These effects are of interest to not only the particle physics but also the nuclear physics community. This document describes in detail the physics goals of the CAPTAIN-MINERνA experiment, in addition to a first estimate of the technical resources required to install, commission and operate the CAPTAIN detector in front of the MINERVA detector.

Intense neutrino flux at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the energy domain below Eν = 50 MeV makes SNS a suitable location for measurement of Coherent NeutrinoScattering. Coherent scattering is assumed to occupy vital roles in supernovae (SN) events and measurement offers promising insight into SN mechanics and advancements in SN- ν detection. Furthermore, this interaction is well-calculable and therefore, a strong test of the Standard Model. P-Type Point Contact High-purity germanium detectors are excellent candidates for this measurement due to their sensitivity to low-energy nuclear recoils. One such, a Canberra Broad Energy HPGe detector, was tested for quality degradation from exposure to fast neutrons in the SNS target building, to assess usefulness in a future coherent scattering experiment. Analysis of the lead-shielded spectra was handled using tools developed for the Majorana Demonstrator neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment. Broad spectrum energy resolution and 68Ge decay rates were calculated. This poster will present findings that will help determine this detector's eligibility and exposure limitations for measurement in a future coherent neutrinoscattering experiment at the SNS.

The RED-100 (Russian Emission Detector) is being constructed for the experiment to search for elastic coherent neutrinoscattering off atomic nuclei. This fundamental process was predicted several decades ago by the Standard Model of electroweak interactions but has not been discovered yet. The RED-100 is a two-phase emission xenon detector containing ∼200 kg of the liquid Xe (∼ 100 kg of that is in a fiducial volume). One of the possible sites to carry out the experiment is the SNS (Spallation Neutron Source) facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA. SNS is the world's most intense pulsed source of neutrinos and unique place to study neutrino properties. The energy spectrum of neutrinos produced at the SNS extends up to ∼ 50 MeV and satisfies coherence condition. These neutrinos give kinetic energies of Xe recoils up to a few tens of keV where the response of nuclear recoils is well-known from neutron calibrations of dark matter detectors. The detector will be deployed in the basement under the experimental hall at a distance of ∼30 meters from the SNS target. The expected signal and background (neutron and gamma) are estimated for this specific location. The detector details, current status and future plans are provided.

Coherent neutrino-nucleon scattering offers a unique approach in the search for physics beyond the standard model. When used in conjunction with monoenergetic neutrino sources, the technique can be sensitive to the existence of light sterile neutrinos. The ability to utilize such reactions has been limited in the past due to the extremely low-energy threshold (10-50 eV) needed for detection. In this paper, we discuss an optimization of cryogenic solid-state bolometers that enables reaching extremely low kinetic energy thresholds. We investigate the sensitivity of an array of such detectors to neutrino oscillations to sterile states. A recent analysis of available reactor data appears to favor the existence of such a sterile neutrino with a mass splitting of |Δmsterile|2≥1.5eV2 and mixing strength of sin⁡22θsterile=0.17±0.08 at 95% confidence level. An array of such low-threshold detectors would be able to make a definitive statement as to the validity of the interpretation.

Neutrino-atom scattering provides a sensitive tool for probing nonstandard interactions of massive neutrinos in laboratory measurements. The ionization channel of this collision process plays an important role in experiments searching for neutrino magnetic moments. We discuss some theoretical aspects of atomic ionization by massive neutrinos. We also outline possible manifestations of neutrino electromagnetic properties in coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering.

The application of superscaling ideas to predict neutral-current (NC) quasielastic (QE) neutrino cross sections is investigated. The relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) using the same relativistic mean field potential (RMF) for both initial and final nucleons -- a model that reproduces the experimental (e,e{sup '}) scaling function -- is used to illustrate our findings. While NC reactions are apparently not well suited for scaling analyses, to a large extent, the RIA-RMF predictions do exhibit superscaling. Independence of the scaled response on the nuclear species is very well fulfilled. The RIA-RMF NC superscaling function is in good agreement with the experimental (e,e{sup '}) one. The idea that electroweak processes can be described with a universal scaling function, provided that mild restrictions on the kinematics are assumed, is shown to be valid.

Starting in the late 1960s, neutrino detectors began to see signs that neutrinos, now known to come in the flavors electron ({nu}{sub e}), muon ({nu}{sub {mu}}), and tau ({nu}{sub {tau}}), could transform from one flavor to another. The findings implied that neutrinos must have mass, since massless particles travel at the speed of light and their clocks, so to speak, don't tick, thus they cannot change. What has since been discovered is that neutrinos oscillate at two distinct scales, 500 km/GeV and 15,000 km/GeV, which are defined by the baseline (L) of the experiment (the distance the neutrino travels) divided by the neutrino energy (E). Neutrinos of one flavor can oscillate into neutrinos of another flavor at both L/E scales, but the amplitude of these oscillations is different for the two scales and depends on the initial and final flavor of the neutrinos. The neutrino states that propogate unchanged in time, the mass eigenstates {nu}1, {nu}2, {nu}3, are quantum mechanical mixtures of the electron, muon, and tau neutrino flavors, and the fraction of each flavor in a given mass eigenstate is controlled by three mixing angles and a complex phase. Two of these mixing angles are known with reasonable precision. An upper bound exists for the third angle, called {theta}{sub 13}, which controls the size of the muon neutrino to electronneutrino oscillation at an L/E of 500 km/GeV. The phase is completely unknown. The existence of this phase has important implications for the asymmetry between matter and antimatter we observe in the universe today. Experiments around the world have steadily assembled this picture of neutrino oscillation, but evidence of muon neutrino to electronneutrino oscillation at 500 km/GeV has remained elusive. Now, a paper from the T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiment in Japan, reports the first possible observation of muon neutrinos oscillating into electronneutrinos at 500 km/GeV. They see 6 candidate signal events, above an expected background

We present a model for electron and neutrinoscattering off nucleons and nuclei focusing on the quasielastic and resonance region. The lepton-nucleon reaction is described within a relativistic formalism that includes, besides quasielastic scattering, the excitation of 13 N* and {delta} resonances and a nonresonant single-pion background. Recent electron scattering data are used for the state-of-the-art parametrizations of the vector form factors; the axial couplings are determined via partial conservation of the axial current and, in the case of the {delta} resonance, the axial form factor is refitted using neutrino-scattering data. Scattering off nuclei is treated within the Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck framework (GiBUU), which takes into account various nuclear effects: the local density approximation for the nuclear ground state, mean-field potentials, and in-medium spectral functions. Results for inclusive scattering off oxygen are presented and, in the case of electron-induced reactions, compared with experimental data and other models.

Neutrino oscillation studies depend on a consistent value for the axial mass. For this reason, a model-independent extraction of this parameter from quasielastic (anti)neutrino-nucleon scattering data is vital. While most studies employ a model-dependent extraction using the dipole model of the axial form factor, we present a model-independent description using the z expansion of the axial form factor. Quasielastic antineutrino scattering data on C-12 from the MiniBooNE experiment are analyzed using this model-independent description. The value found, mA = 0 .85-0 . 06 + 0 . 13 +/- 0 . 13 GeV, differs significantly from the value utilized by the MiniBooNE Collaboration, mA = 1 . 35 GeV. Advisor: Dr. Gil Paz Wayne State Univerity.

The NOνA experiment is a long-baseline accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiment. It uses the upgraded NuMI beam from Fermilab and measures electron-neutrino appearance and muon-neutrino disappearance at its far detector in Ash River, Minnesota. Goals of the experiment include measurements of θ13, mass hierarchy and the CP violating phase. NOνA has begun to take neutrino data and first neutrino candidates are observed in its detectors. This document provides an overview of the scientific reach of the experiment, the status of detector operation and physics analysis, as well as the first data.

From a measurement of the absolute cross section in {nu}{sub {ital e}e}{sup {minus}} elastic scattering we have set a limit on flavor-changing neutral currents in the neutrino sector. We find that an off-diagonal, flavor-changing coupling is limited to 1{minus}{ital f}{sub {ital e}{ital e}}{lt}0.35 (90% C.L.).

We consider searches for dark matter annihilation to monoenergetic neutrinos in the core of the Sun. We find that liquid scintillation neutrino detectors have enhanced sensitivity to this class of dark matter models, due to the energy and angular resolution possible for electronneutrinos and antineutrinos that scatter via charged-current interactions. In particular we find that KamLAND, utilizing existing data, could provide better sensitivity to such models than any current direct detection experiment for m{sub X}≲15 Gev. KamLAND’s sensitivity is signal-limited, and future liquid scintillation or liquid argon detectors with similar energy and angular resolution, but with larger exposure, will provide significantly better sensitivity. These detectors may be particularly powerful probes of dark matter with mass O(10) GeV.

In an experiment designed to study elastic scattering of nu/sub ..mu../ (and anti nu/sub ..mu../) from electrons and protons via the weak neutral current, we have recently completed several extensive data taking runs. Results for the cross section of nu/sub ..mu../ + e/sup -/ ..-->.. nu/sub ..mu../ + e/sup -/ are presented based upon the first third of the available sample. Preliminary analysis of anti nu/sub ..mu../ + e/sup -/ ..-->.. anti nu/sub ..mu../ + e/sup -/ is in progress and evidence for the signal is presented.

We study the inverse Compton scattering of solar photons by Galactic cosmic-ray electrons. We show that the {gamma}-ray emission from this process is significant with the maximum flux in the direction of the Sun; the angular distribution of the emission is broad. This previously neglected foreground should be taken into account in studies of the diffuse Galactic and extragalactic {gamma}-ray emission. Furthermore, observations by GLAST can be used to monitor the heliosphere and determine the electron spectrum as a function of position from distances as large as Saturn's orbit down to close proximity of the Sun, thus enabling studies of solar modulation in the most extreme case. This paves the way for the determination of other Galactic cosmic-ray species, primarily protons, near the solar surface leading to accurate predictions of {gamma}-rays from pp-interactions in the solar atmosphere. These albedo {gamma}-rays will be observable by GLAST, allowing the study of deep atmospheric layers, magnetic field(s), and cosmic-ray cascade development. The latter is necessary to calculate the neutrino flux from pp-interactions at higher energies (>1 TeV). The corresponding neutrino flux from the Sun can be used as a ''standard candle'' for upcoming km{sup 3} neutrino detectors, such as IceCube. Since the solar core is opaque for very high-energy neutrinos, it may be possible to directly study the mass distribution of the Sun.

A new derivation of the Mikheyev and Smirnov (1985) mechanism for the conversion of electronneutrinos into mu neutrinos when traversing the sun is presented, and various hypotheses set forth. It is assumed that this process is responsible for the detection of fewer solar neutrinos than expected, with neutrinos below a minimum energy, E(m), being undetectable. E(m) is found to be about 6 MeV, and the difference of the squares of the respective neutrino masses is calculated to be 6 X 10 to the - 5th sq eV. A restriction on the neutrino mixing angle is assumed such that the change of density near the crossing point is adiabatic. It is predicted that no resonance conversion of neutrinos will occur in the dense core of supernovae, but conversion of electronneutrinos to mu neutrinos will occur as they escape outward through a density region around 100.

Some recent developments in the experimental search for neutrino mass are discussed. New data from Los Alamos on the electronneutrino mass as measured in tritium beta decay give an upper limit of 9.3 eV at the 95% confidence level. This result is not consistent with the long-standing ITEP result of 26(5) eV within a model-independent'' range of 17 to 40 eV. It now appears that the electronneutrino is not sufficiently massive to close the universe by itself. Hime and Jelley report finding new evidence for a 17-keV neutrino in the {Beta} decay of {sup 35}S and {sup 63}Ni. Many other experiments are being reported and the situation is still unresolved. 56 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs.

Neutrino reactions recorded by the MINOS Near Detector in exposures totalling 2.8x10{sup 20} protons-on-target were searched for single, highly-forward {pi}{sup 0} mesons produced by coherent neutral current interactions {nu}{sub {mu}}+A{yields}{nu}{sub {mu}}+A+{pi}{sup 0}. Events having topologies consistent with single electromagnetic showers were isolated. Contributions from neutrino-induced backgrounds are determined using a data-driven fit of Monte Carlo distributions over sideband regions. The fit is used to project the background levels into signal regions. An excess of events above the best-fit background is observed for shower topologies of few GeV energies and at very forward angles. The partial cross section for NC({pi}{sup 0}) coherent scattering yielding E{sub vis}({pi}{sup 0})>1.0 GeV averaged over incident neutrino energies 2.4{<=}E{sub {nu}{<=}9}.0 GeV is (31.6{+-}10.5)x10{sup -40} cm{sup 2}/nucleus. Total cross sections for coherent scattering from nuclei of average nucleon number A{sub eff} = 48 and for iron (A = 56) nuclei are estimated for } = 4.9 GeV.

Background: Nuclear short-range correlations (SRCs) are corrections to mean-field wave functions connected with the short-distance behavior of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. These SRCs provide corrections to lepton-nucleus cross sections as computed in the impulse approximation (IA). Purpose: We want to investigate the influence of SRCs on the one-nucleon (1 N ) and two-nucleon (2 N ) knockout channels for muon-neutrino induced processes on a 12 target at energies relevant for contemporary measurements. Method: The model adopted in this work corrects the impulse approximation for SRCs by shifting the complexity induced by the SRCs from the wave functions to the operators. Due to the local character of the SRCs, it is argued that the expansion of these operators can be truncated at a low order. Results: The model is compared with electron-scattering data, and two-particle two-hole responses are presented for neutrinoscattering. The contributions from the vector and axial-vector parts of the nuclear current as well as the central, tensor, and spin-isospin parts of the SRCs are studied. Conclusions: Nuclear SRCs affect the 1 N knockout channel and give rise to 2 N knockout. The exclusive neutrino-induced 2 N knockout cross section of SRC pairs is shown and the 2 N knockout contribution to the QE signal is calculated. The strength occurs as a broad background which extends into the dip region.

Neutrino-induced charged-current coherent kaon production νμA→μ-K+A is a rare, inelastic electroweak process that brings a K+ on shell and leaves the target nucleus intact in its ground state. This process is significantly lower in rate than the neutrino-induced charged-current coherent pion production because of Cabibbo suppression and a kinematic suppression due to the larger kaon mass. We search for such events in the scintillator tracker of MINERvA by observing the final state K+, μ-, and no other detector activity, and by using the kinematics of the final state particles to reconstruct the small momentum transfer to the nucleus, which ismore » a model-independent characteristic of coherent scattering. Furthermore, we find the first experimental evidence for the process at 3σ significance.« less

Neutrino-induced charged-current coherent kaon production νμA →μ-K+A is a rare, inelastic electroweak process that brings a K+ on shell and leaves the target nucleus intact in its ground state. This process is significantly lower in rate than the neutrino-induced charged-current coherent pion production because of Cabibbo suppression and a kinematic suppression due to the larger kaon mass. We search for such events in the scintillator tracker of MINERvA by observing the final state K+, μ-, and no other detector activity, and by using the kinematics of the final state particles to reconstruct the small momentum transfer to the nucleus, which is a model-independent characteristic of coherent scattering. We find the first experimental evidence for the process at 3 σ significance.

Neutrino-induced charged-current coherent kaon production νμA→μ-K+A is a rare, inelastic electroweak process that brings a K+ on shell and leaves the target nucleus intact in its ground state. This process is significantly lower in rate than the neutrino-induced charged-current coherent pion production because of Cabibbo suppression and a kinematic suppression due to the larger kaon mass. We search for such events in the scintillator tracker of MINERvA by observing the final state K+, μ-, and no other detector activity, and by using the kinematics of the final state particles to reconstruct the small momentum transfer to the nucleus, which ismore » a model-independent characteristic of coherent scattering. We find the first experimental evidence for the process at 3σ significance.« less

The COHERENT collaboration has proposed to measure coherent, elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE νNS) cross sections on several nuclear targets using neutrinos produced at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The largest background of concern arises from beam-induced, fast neutrons that can mimic a nuclear recoil signal event in the detector. Multiple technologies of neutron detection have been employed at prospective experiment sites at the SNS. Analysis of these data have produced a consistent picture of the backgrounds expected for a CE νNS measurement. These background studies show that at suitable locations, the fast neutrons of concern arrive mainly in the prompt 1.3 μs window and the neutrons in the delayed window are primarily of lower energies that are relatively easier to shield.

Neutrino-induced charged-current coherent kaon production ν_{μ}A→μ^{-}K^{+}A is a rare, inelastic electroweak process that brings a K^{+} on shell and leaves the target nucleus intact in its ground state. This process is significantly lower in rate than the neutrino-induced charged-current coherent pion production because of Cabibbo suppression and a kinematic suppression due to the larger kaon mass. We search for such events in the scintillator tracker of MINERvA by observing the final state K^{+}, μ^{-}, and no other detector activity, and by using the kinematics of the final state particles to reconstruct the small momentum transfer to the nucleus, which is a model-independent characteristic of coherent scattering. We find the first experimental evidence for the process at 3σ significance. PMID:27541459

The field of neutrino physics has expanded greatly in recent years with the discovery that neutrinos change flavor and therefore have mass. Although there are many neutrino physics results since the last DIS workshop, these proceedings concentrate on recent neutrino physics results that either add to or depend on the understanding of Deep Inelastic Scattering. They also describe the short and longer term future of neutrino DIS experiments.

The NuMI facility at Fermilab will provide an extremely intense beam of neutrinos for the MINOS neutrino-oscillation experiment. The spacious and fully-outfitted MINOS near detector hall will be the ideal venue for a high-statistics, high-resolution {nu} and {bar {nu}}-nucleon/nucleus scattering experiment. The experiment described here will measure neutrino cross-sections and probe nuclear effects essential to present and future neutrino-oscillation experiments. Moreover, with the high NuMI beam intensity, the experiment will either initially address or significantly improve our knowledge of a wide variety of neutrino physics topics of interest and importance to the elementary-particle and nuclear-physics communities.

In this article the feasibility of using charge coupled devices (CCD) to detect low-energy neutrinos through their coherent scattering with nuclei is analyzed. The detection of neutrinos through this standard model process has been elusive because of the small energy deposited in such interaction. Typical particle detectors have thresholds of a few keV, and most of the energy deposition expected from coherent scattering is well below this level. The CCD detectors discussed in this paper can operate at a threshold of approximately 30 eV, making them ideal for observing this signal. On a CCD array of 500 g located next to a power nuclear reactor the number of coherent scattering events expected is about 3000 events/year. Our results shows that a detection with a confidence level of 99% can be reached within 16 days of continuous operation; with the current 52 g detector prototype this time lapse extends to five months.

We present results from 2-D supernova simulations which include the effects of neutrino-electron scattering. The importance of neutrino-electron scattering in stellar collapse has been known for two decades. Yet it has often been neglected in multidimensional simulations due to the difficulty of implementing it consistently. The inclusion of this process is numerically challenging because of the extremely short scattering timescales involved. The stiffness resulting from this short timescale precludes an explicit numerical treatment of this phenomenon, such as those that have recently been utilized in some 2-D models. We describe our fully-implicit treatment of this process and present our initial results. This work was performed at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as part of the TeraScale Supernova Initiative, and is funded by SciDAC grant DE-FC02-01ER41185 from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science High-Energy, Nuclear, and Advanced Scientific Computing Research Programs. We gratefully acknowledge support of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) for computational and consulting support.

Limits on dark matter spin dependent elastic scattering cross section on protons derived from IceCube data are obtained for different dark matter annihilation channels using micrOMEGAs. The uncertainty on the derived limits, estimated by using different neutrino spectra, can reach a factor two. For all dark matter annihilation channels except for quarks, the limits on the spin dependent cross section are more stringent than those obtained in direct detection experiments. The new functions that allow to derive those limits are described.

The Fermilab experiment E872 (DONUT) was designed to make the first observation of the tau neutrino charged-current interaction. Using a hybrid emulsion-spectrometer detector, the tau lepton was identified by its single-prong or trident decay. Six interactions were observed, of which five were in the deep inelastic scattering region. These five interaction were used to measure the charged-current cross section of the tau neutrino. To minimize uncertainties, the tau neutrino cross section was measured relative to the electronneutrino cross section. The result {sigma}{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}N}{sup const}/{sigma}{sub {nu}{sub e}N}{sup const} = 0.77 {+-} 0.39 is consistent with 1.0, which is predicted by lepton universality. The tau neutrino cross section was also measured for 115 GeV neutrinos, which was the average energy of the interacted tau neutrinos. The result {sigma}{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}N}{sup exp} = 45 {+-} 21 x 10{sup -38} cm{sup 2} is consistent with the standard model prediction calculated in this thesis, {sigma}{sub {tau}N}{sup SM} = 48 {+-} 5 x 10{sup -38} cm{sup 2}.

Neutrinos are electrically neutral ELEMENTARY PARTICLES which experience only the weak nuclear force and gravity. Their existence was introduced as a hypothesis by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930 to explain the apparent violation of energy conservation in radioactive beta decay. Chadwick had discovered in 1914 that the energy spectrum of electrons emitted in beta decay was not monoenergetic but continuous...

We extend the physics case for a new high-energy, ultra-high statistics neutrinoscattering experiment, NuSOnG (NeutrinoScattering On Glass) to address a variety of issues including precision QCD measurements, extraction of structure functions, and the derived Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs). This experiment uses a Tevatron-based neutrino beam to obtain a sample of Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) events which is over two orders of magnitude larger than past samples. We outline an innovative method for fitting the structure functions using a parameterized energy shift which yields reduced systematic uncertainties. High statistics measurements, in combination with improved systematics, will enable NuSOnG to perform discerning tests of fundamental Standard Model parameters as we search for deviations which may hint of 'Beyond the Standard Model' physics.

The axial form factor plays a crucial role in quasielastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, but the error of the theoretical cross section due to uncertainties of GA remains to be established. Conversely, the extraction of GA from the neutrino nucleus cross section suffers from large systematic errors due to nuclear model dependencies, while the use of single-parameter dipole fits underestimates the errors and prevents an identification of the relevant kinematics for this determination. We propose to use a generalized axial-vector-meson dominance in conjunction with large-Nc and high-energy QCD constraints to model the nucleon axial form factor, as well as the half-width rule as an a priori uncertainty estimate. The minimal hadronic ansatz comprises the sum of two monopoles corresponding to the lightest axial-vector mesons being coupled to the axial current. The parameters of the resulting axial form factor are the masses and widths of the two axial mesons as obtained from the averaged Particle Data Group values. By applying the half-width rule in a Monte Carlo simulation, a distribution of theoretical predictions can then be generated for the neutrino-nucleus quasielastic cross section. We test the model by applying it to the (νμ,μ ) quasielastic cross section from 12 for the kinematics of the MiniBooNE experiment. The resulting predictions have no free parameters. We find that the relativistic Fermi gas model globally reproduces the experimental data, giving χ2/# bins=0.81 . A Q2-dependent error analysis of the neutrino data shows that the uncertainties in the axial form factor GA(Q2) are comparable to the ones induced by the a priori half-width rule. We identify the most sensitive region to be in the range 0.2 ≲Q2≲0.6 GeV2 .

This review paper provides a summary of the published results of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment that was carried out by an international scientific collaboration with data collected during the period from 1999 to 2006. By using heavy water as a detection medium, the SNO experiment demonstrated clearly that solar electronneutrinos from 8B decay in the solar core change into other active neutrino flavors in transit to Earth. The reaction on deuterium that has equal sensitivity to all active neutrino flavors also provides a very accurate measure of the initial solar flux for comparison with solar models. This review summarizes the results from three phases of solar neutrino detection as well as other physics results obtained from analyses of the SNO data.

This letter reports on a search for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 3.14 x 10{sup 20} protons-on-target exposure in the Fermilab NuMI beam. We observe 35 events in the Far Detector with a background of 27 {+-} 5(stat.) {+-} 2(syst.) events predicted by the measurements in the Near Detector. If interpreted in terms of {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillations, this 1.5 {sigma} excess of events is consistent with sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 13}) comparable to the CHOOZ limit when |{Delta}m{sup 2}| = 2.43 x 10{sup -3} eV{sup 2} and sin{sup 2} (2{theta}{sub 23}) = 1.0 are assumed.

This Letter reports on a search for nu(mu) --> nu(e) transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 3.14x10(20) protons-on-target exposure in the Fermilab NuMI beam. We observe 35 events in the Far Detector with a background of 27+/-5(stat)+/-2(syst) events predicted by the measurements in the Near Detector. If interpreted in terms of nu(mu) --> nu(e) oscillations, this 1.5sigma excess of events is consistent with sin2(2theta(13)) comparable to the CHOOZ limit when |Delta m2|=2.43x10(-3) eV2 and sin2(2theta(23))=1.0 are assumed. PMID:20366304

This Letter reports on a search for νμ→νe transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 3.14×1020 protons-on-target exposure in the Fermilab NuMI beam. We observe 35 events in the Far Detector with a background of 27±5(stat)±2(syst) events predicted by the measurements in the Near Detector. If interpreted in terms of νμ→νe oscillations, this 1.5σ excess of events is consistent with sin⁡2(2θ13) comparable to the CHOOZ limit when |Δm2|=2.43×10-3eV2 and sin⁡2(2θ23)=1.0 are assumed.

This Letter reports on a search for nu{sub m}u->nu{sub e} transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 3.14x10{sup 20} protons-on-target exposure in the Fermilab NuMI beam. We observe 35 events in the Far Detector with a background of 27+-5(stat)+-2(syst) events predicted by the measurements in the Near Detector. If interpreted in terms of nu{sub m}u->nu{sub e} oscillations, this 1.5sigma excess of events is consistent with sin{sup 2}(2theta{sub 13}) comparable to the CHOOZ limit when |DELTAm{sup 2}|=2.43x10{sup -3} eV{sup 2} and sin{sup 2}(2theta{sub 23})=1.0 are assumed.

Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Scattering (CNNS) is a theoretical well-grounded, but as-yet unverified process. The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) may provide an optimal platform for detection of CNNS, possibly with existing detector technology. A proto-collaboration of groups from several institutions has come together to investigate this option and propose an experiment for the first-time observation of CNNS. Currently, the largest risk to such an experiment comes from an unknown background of beam-induced high-energy neutrons that penetrate the existing SNS concrete shielding. We have deployed a neutron scatter camera at the SNS during beam operation and performed preliminary measurements of the neutron backgrounds at a promising experimental location. In order to measure neutrons as high as 100 MeV, we needed to make modifications to the neutron scatter camera and expand its capabilities beyond its standard operating range of 1-14MeV. We have identified sources of high-energy neutrons and continue to investigate other possible locations that may allow a successful CNNS experiment to go forward. The imaging capabilities of the neutron scatter camera will allow more optimal shielding designs that take into account neutron flux anisotropies at the selected experiment locations.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a second generation solar neutrino detector. SNO is the first experiment that is able to measure both the electronneutrino flux and a flavor-blind flux of all active neutrino types, allowing a model-independent determination if the deficit of solar neutrinos known as the solar neutrino problem is due to neutrino oscillation. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory started taking production data in November, 1999. A measurement of the charged current rate will be the first indication if SNO too sees a suppression of the solar neutrino signal relative to the theoretical predictions. Such a confirmation is the first step in SNO's ambitious science program. In this thesis, we present evidence that SNO is seeing solar neutrinos and a preliminary ratio of the measured vs predicted rate of electrons as induced by 8B neutrinos in the νe, + d --> p + p + e charged-current (CC) reaction.

In addition to the standard perturbative QCD corrections to deep inelastic scattering, there are nonperturbative twist-four corrections which behave like 1/QS relative to the lnQS leading log corrections. We have calculated the twist-four, spin-one and spin-two corrections to sigma/sub NC/, sigma/sub CC/, R/sub nu/ and R/sub anti nu/ using the following procedure: The bilocal product of the weak currents is expanded into local operators using the Wilson operator product expansion. The coefficient functions obey the renormalization group equations and, neglecting the anomalous dimensions of the operators, were calculated using perturbative techniques. The nucleon matrix elements of the local operators can then be evaluated assuming some quark confinement model. We found that twist-four, spin-two corrections to the neutral current neutrinoscattering decreases sinStheta/sub w/ by about 1%. Taking into account the twist-four, spin-two corrections for the charged current cross section, we found that they give a dominant contribution to the ratio R/sub nu/ and increased sinStheta/sub w/ by about 0.5%. We also have studied the model dependence of our results, and we have found that the twist-four, spin-two corrections to sinStheta/sub w/ are quite model dependent. The twist-four, spin-one corrections to the neutrinoscattering were also calculated. These corrections come from two-quark, one-gluon operators and even at low QS their contribution was found to be considerably smaller than the twist-four, spin-two corrections.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory has completed operation in its third phase with an array of neutron detectors in 1000 tonnes of heavy water and Cherenkov light detection 2 km underground in INCO's Creighton mine near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Data from the third phase is now being analyzed. In the first two phases of the project reported previously, the neutral current reaction on deuterium was used to determine the total flux of active neutrinos and the charged current reaction on deuterium provided a measure of the flux and energy spectrum of solar electronneutrinos. The flux of electronneutrinos was found to be only about one third of the total flux, providing clear evidence of neutrino flavour change. The total flux of active neutrinos was found to be in agreement with solar model calculations. The underground laboratory is being expanded to create an international facility known as SNOLAB that will be completed at the end of 2007. Proposed future experiments for the detection of lower energy solar neutrinos, geo-neutrinos, dark matter and double beta decay are described.

The most basic Quantum are the particles who mutual rotation, quantum is composed of basic quantum.Quantum convergence or divergence is conditional, the faster the particle rotates, the smaller the orbiting radius will be, the greater quality is, the more density will be. The orbiting radius of less than 10-15 meters in the order of convergence, convergence of neutron, proton, and then they are in the formation of the nucleus, and the convergence of quantum can make extra nuclear electron and the formation of atomic; if rotation radius is more than 10-15 meters of magnitude, the internal quantum atoms diverge to outer space in the form of electromagnetic waves. The quality of magnetic wave particle is composed of the rotation speed of the particle which is internal of the electromagnetic, it doesn't matter about the electromagnetic wave propagation velocity of particles. Neutrinos are orbiting particles, the orbiting radius is about 10-15 meters, is a special kind of radiation. Neutrino is between the virtual particles (according to modern science, the electromagnetic wave doesn't have quality) and modern scientific (the particle who has quality) special particles

Neutrino-electron elastic scattering reactions play an important role in tests of weak interaction theory. The four reactions which may be considered are:. (nu)(,e) + e('-) (--->) (nu)(,e) + e('-). (nu)(,e)(' )+ e('-) (--->) (nu)(,e) + e('-). (nu)(,(mu)) + e('-) (--->) (nu)(,(mu)) + e('-). (nu)(,(mu))(' )+ e('-) (--->) (nu)(,(mu)) + e(' -). The experimental study of these purely leptonic interactions severely tests basic theoretical ideas, and the reaction with (nu)(,e) has not yet been observed. The characteristics of Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility. (LAMPF) are such that (nu)(,e) is rarely produced, whereas (nu)(,e),(nu)(,(mu)), and(' ). (nu)(,(mu)) are present in equal numbers. Thus, data on all three processes(' ). will be collected simultaneously, but the (nu)(,e) reaction is expected to dominate. However, such studies are exceedingly difficult. The main problem arises from the nature of the event signature (an undetected particle enters the detector producing a single recoil electron) coupled with the miniscule cross sections expected (and therefore low event rates) amid numerous sources of background events. To learn how to reduce the rates of such backgrounds, the UCI Neutrino Group installed in the Neutrino Facility in 1974 a small scale detector system consisting of a sandwich of optical spark chambers and plastic scintillator slabs (0.38 metric tons) which was shielded by 2 1/2" of Pb and enclosed by tanks of liquid scintillator used as an anticoincidence. Electronics and instrumentation, including a CAMAC system interfaced with a PDP-11/05 computer, were housed in a nearby trailer. The 1974 study was carried out with the LAMPF Neutrino Facility shielded against cosmic rays by Fe walls 3' thick and a 4' Fe roof. Nevertheless, stopping cosmic ray muons appeared to give rise to the substantial number of background electron events observed. Several techniques were invoked to reduce the potential background for neutrino -electron elastic scattering to (1

Good understanding of the cross sections for (anti)neutrinoscattering off nuclear targets in the few-GeV energy region is a prerequisite for the correct interpretation of results of ongoing and planned oscillation experiments. To clarify a possible source of disagreement between recent measurements of the cross sections on carbon, we analyze the available data within an approach based on the realistic spectral function of carbon, treating neutral-current elastic (NCE) and charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) processes on equal footing. We show that the axial mass from the shape analysis of the MiniBooNE data is in good agreement with the results reported by the BNL E734 and NOMAD Collaborations. However, the combined analysis of the NCE and CCQE data does not seem to support the contribution of multinucleon final states being large enough to explain the normalization of the MiniBooNE-reported cross sections.

Good understanding of the cross sections for (anti)neutrinoscattering off nuclear targets in the few-GeV energy region is a prerequisite for the correct interpretation of results of ongoing and planned oscillation experiments. To clarify a possible source of disagreement between recent measurements of the cross sections on carbon, we analyze the available data within an approach based on the realistic spectral function of carbon, treating neutral-current elastic (NCE) and charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) processes on equal footing. We show that the axial mass from the shape analysis of the MiniBooNE data is in good agreement with the results reported by the BNL E734 and NOMAD Collaborations. However, the combined analysis of the NCE and CCQE data does not seem to support the contribution of multinucleon final states being large enough to explain the normalization of the MiniBooNE-reported cross sections.

The determination of the neutrino rest mass plays an important role at the intersections of cosmology, particle physics and astroparticle physics. This topic is currently being addressed by two complementary approaches in laboratory experiments. Neutrinoless double beta decay experiments probe whether neutrinos are Majorana particles and determine an effective neutrino mass value. Single beta decay experiments such as KATRIN and MARE investigate the spectral shape of β-decay electrons close to their kinematic endpoint in order to determine the neutrino rest mass with a model-independent method. Owing to neutrino flavour mixing, the neutrino mass parameter appears as an average of all neutrino mass eigenstates contributing to the electronneutrino. The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) is currently the experiment in the most advanced status of commissioning. Applying an ultra-luminous molecular windowless gaseous tritium source and an integrating high-resolution spectrometer of MAC-E filter type, it allows β-spectroscopy close to the T 2 end-point with unprecedented precision and will reach a sensitivity of 200 meV/ c 2 (90% C.L.) on the neutrino rest mass.

A precision measurement of neutrino-electron elastic scattering from a beam stop neutrino source at LAMPF is proposed. The total error in sin/sup 2/theta/sub W/ is estimated to be +-0.89/percent/. The experiment also will be sensitive to neutrino oscillations and supernova-neutrino bursts, and should set improved limits on the neutrino-charge radius and magnetic-dipole moment. The detector consists of a 2.5-million-gallon tank of water with approximately 14,000 photomultiplier tubes lining the surfaces of the tank. Neutrino-electron scattering events will be observed from the /hacek C/erenkov radiation emitted by the electrons in the water. 19 refs.

In this thesis, results of neutrino-nucleon neutral current (NC) elastic scattering analysis are presented. Neutrinos interact with other particles only with weak force. Measurement of cross-section for neutrino-nucleon reactions at various neutrino energy are important for the study of nucleon structure. It also provides data to be used for beam flux monitor in neutrino oscillation experiments. The cross-section for neutrino-nucleon NC elastic scattering contains the axial vector form factor G{sub A}(Q{sup 2}) as well as electromagnetic form factors unlike electromagnetic interaction. G{sub A} is propotional to strange part of nucleon spin ({Delta}s) in Q{sup 2} {yields} 0 limit. Measurement of NC elastic cross-section with smaller Q{sup 2} enables us to access {Delta}s. NC elastic cross-sections of neutrino-nucleon and antineutrino-nucleon were measured earlier by E734 experiment at Brookheaven National Laboratory (BNL) in 1987. In this experiment, cross-sections were measured in Q{sup 2} > 0.4 GeV{sup 2} region. Result from this experiment was the only published data for NC elastic scattering cross-section published before our experiment. SciBooNE is an experiment for the measurement of neutrino-nucleon scattering cross-secitons using Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at FNAL. BNB has energy peak at 0.7 GeV. In this energy region, NC elastic scattering, charged current elastic scattering, charged current pion production, and neutral current pion production are the major reaction branches. SciBar, electromagnetic calorimeter, and Muon Range Detector are the detectors for SciBooNE. The SciBar consists of finely segmented scintillators and 14336 channels of PMTs. It has a capability to reconstruct particle track longer than 8 cm and separate proton from muons and pions using energy deposit information. Signal of NC elastic scattering is a single proton track. In {nu}p {yields} {nu}p process, the recoil proton is detected. On the other hand, most of {nu}n {yields} {nu

We investigated the in-medium effect by density-dependent axial and weak-vector form factors on muon-neutrino ({{ν }μ }) and anti-muon-neutrino ({{\\bar{ν }}μ }) scattering in the quasi-elastic (QE) region from nucleons (N*) bound in a nucleus or immersed in a nuclear medium via neutral current (NC) and charged current (CC). For the density-dependent form factors, we exploited a quark-meson-coupling (QMC) model. We found that the {{ν }μ }({{\\bar{ν }}μ })-{{N}*} scattering cross sections via NC in the QE region usually decrease with an increased medium density, while those using CC were increased. However, their rate of change was sensitive to the four-momentum transfer given to a bound nucleon through scattering. We compared these results obtained by the elementary process corrected by the in-medium effect to the BNL and MiniBooNE data, which measured {{ν }μ } scattering cross sections per nucleon through {{ν }μ } - 12C scattering in 12C composite targets. The incident energy range was 550 \\lt {{E}ν }\\lt 3000 MeV. We increased the energy up to 100 GeV to compare our results to the NOMAD experimental data. In order to study the density effects on a nucleon embedded in 12C, we exploited the QMC form factors evaluated at ρ =0.5{{ρ }o}, where the normal density {{ρ }o}˜ 0.15 f{{m}-3}. The strangeness contributions in NC scattering are also incorporated into the form factors for comparison with experimental data. Our numerical results show that most of the experimental data can be explained in a satisfactory manner by the density-dependent elementary process, but there are some remaining deviations resulting from the nuclear structure, particularly in the low and high momentum-transfer regions.

MINERvA is a dedicated neutrino cross-section experiment planned for the near detector hall of the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. I summarize the detector design and physics capabilities of the experiment.

We derive an analytic approximation for the emissivity of neutrino-pair bremsstrahlung (NPB) due to scattering of electrons by atomic nuclei in a neutron star (NS) crust of any realistic composition. The emissivity is expressed through generalized Coulomb logarithm by introducing an effective potential of electron-nucleus scattering. In addition, we study the conditions at which NPB in the crust is affected by strong magnetic fields and outline the main effects of the fields on neutrino emission in NSs. The results can be used for modelling of many phenomena in NSs, such as cooling of young isolated NSs, thermal relaxation of accreting NSs with overheated crust in soft X-ray transients and evolution of magnetars.

This document is a technical progress report on work performed at the University of Pennsylvania during the current year on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory project. The motivation for the experiment is the measurement of neutrinos emitted by the sun. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a second generation dedicated solar neutrino experiment which will extend the results of our work with the Kamiokande II detector by measuring three reactions of neutrinos rather than the single reaction measured by the Kamiokande experiment. The collaborative project includes physicists from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Full funding for the construction of this facility was obtained in Jan. 1990, and its construction is estimated to take five years. The motivation for the SNO experiment is to study the fundamental properties of neutrinos, in particular the mass and mixing parameters, which remain undetermined after decades of experiments in neutrino physics utilizing accelerators and reactors as sources of neutrinos. To continue the study of neutrino properties it is necessary to use the sun as a neutrino source. The long distance to the sun makes the search for neutrino mass sensitive to much smaller mass than can be studied with terrestrial sources. Furthermore, the matter density in the sun is sufficiently large to enhance the effects of small mixing between electronneutrinos and mu or tau neutrinos. This experiment, when combined with the results of the radiochemical Cl-37 and Ga-71 experiments and the Kamiokande II experiment, should extend our knowledge of these fundamental particles, and as a byproduct, improve our understanding of energy generation in the sun.

The results of gallium measurements of solar neutrino and measurements with artificial sources of neutrinos are presented. Conclusions are drawn from these results, and the potential of the SAGE experiment for studying transitions of active neutrinos to sterile states for {Delta}m{sup 2} > 0.5 eV{sup 2} and a sensitivity of a few percent to the disappearance of electronneutrinos is examined.

Decades of research in electron-nucleus deep inelastic scattering (DIS) have provided a clear picture of nuclear physics at high momentum transfer. While these effects have been clearly demonstrated by experiment, the theoretical explanation of their origin in some kinematic regions has been lacking. Particularly, the effects in the intermediate regions of Bjorken-x, anti-shadowing and the EMC effect have no universally accepted quantum mechanical explanation. In addition, these effects have not been measured systematically with neutrino-nucleus deep inelastic scattering, due to experiments lacking multiple heavy targets.

We present a fully differential next-to-next-to-leading order calculation of charm-quark production in charged-current deep-inelastic scattering, with full charm-quark mass dependence. The next-to-next-to-leading order corrections in perturbative quantum chromodynamics are found to be comparable in size to the next-to-leading order corrections in certain kinematic regions. We compare our predictions with data on dimuon production in (anti)neutrinoscattering from a heavy nucleus. Our results can be used to improve the extraction of the parton distribution function of a strange quark in the nucleon.

We present a fully differential next-to-next-to-leading order calculation of charm-quark production in charged-current deep-inelastic scattering, with full charm-quark mass dependence. The next-to-next-to-leading order corrections in perturbative quantum chromodynamics are found to be comparable in size to the next-to-leading order corrections in certain kinematic regions. We compare our predictions with data on dimuon production in (anti)neutrinoscattering from a heavy nucleus. Our results can be used to improve the extraction of the parton distribution function of a strange quark in the nucleon. PMID:27284650

A previous calculation of electroweak O({alpha}) corrections to deep-inelastic neutrinoscattering, as e.g. measured by NuTeV and NOMAD, is supplemented by higher-order effects. In detail, we take into account universal two-loop effects from {delta}{alpha} and {delta}{rho} as well as higher-order final-state photon radiation off muons in the structure function approach. Moreover, we make use of the recently released O({alpha})-improved parton distributions MRST2004QED and identify the relevant QED factorization scheme, which is DIS-like. As a technical by-product, we describe slicing and subtraction techniques for an efficient calculation of a new type of real corrections that are induced by the generated photon distribution. A numerical discussion of the higher-order effects suggests that the remaining theoretical uncertainty from unknown electroweak corrections is dominated by nonuniversal two-loop effects and is of the order 0.0003 when translated into a shift in sin{sup 2}{theta}{sub W}=1-M{sub W}{sup 2}/M{sub Z}{sup 2}. The O({alpha}) corrections implicitly included in the parton distributions lead to a shift of about 0.0004.

The collecting power and imaging ability of planned ultrahigh-energy neutrino observatories depend on wavelength-dependent absorption and scattering coefficients for the detector medium. Published data are compiled for deep ice at the South Pole, for deep fresh water at Lake Baikal, and for deep seawater. The effective scattering coefficient is smallest for the clearest deep ocean sites, whereas the absorption coefficient is an order of magnitude smaller for deep ice than for the ocean and lake sites. The effective volume per detector element as a function of energy is calculated for electromagnetic cascades produced by electronneutrinos interacting at the various sites. It is largest for deep bubble-free ice, smallest for shallow bubbly ice, and intermediate for lake and seawater. The effective volume per element is calculated for detection of positrons resulting from the capture of a few megaelectron volt supernova neutrinos by protons in the medium. This volume is proportional to the absorption length and independent of the scattering length; it is larger for ice than for seawater or lake water. {copyright} 1997 Optical Society of America

By using SN 1987a as a 'source' of neutrinos with energy approx.10 MeV we place limits on the couplings of neutrinos with cosmic background particles. Specifically, we find that the Majoron-electronneutrino coupling must be less than about 10/sup -3/; if neutrinos couple to a massless vector particle, its dimensionless coupling must be less than about 10/sup -3/; and if neutrinos couple with strength g to a massive boson of mass M, then g/M must be less than 12 MeV/sup -1/. 11 refs., 3 tabs.

The possible buid and near activity of a Megaton neutrino detection in HyperKamiokande and the older SK implementation by Gadolinium liqid might open to future detection of largest solar flare (pion trace at tens MeV) electronneutrino and antineutrino. The multiwave detection of X-gamma and neutrino event might offer a deep view of such solar acelleration and of neutrino flavor mix along its flight. The possoble near future discover of such events will open a third neutrino astronomy windows after rarest SN 1987A and persistent Solar nuclear signals.

We explore the possibility to observe the effects of electronneutrinos from past galactic supernovae, through a geochemical measurement of the amount of Technetium 97 produced by neutrino-induced reactions in a Molybdenum ore. The calculations we present take into account the recent advances in our knowledge of neutrino interactions, of neutrino oscillations inside a supernova, of the solar neutrino flux at Earth and of possible failed supernovae. The predicted Technetium 97 abundance is of the order of 10{sup 7} atoms per 10 kilotons of ore, which is close to the current geochemical experimental sensitivity. Of this, {approx} 10-20% is from supernovae. Considering the comparable size of uncertainties, more precision in the modeling of neutrino fluxes as well as of neutrino cross sections is required for a meaningful measurement.

This talk is intended as a brief report on studies of the elastic scattering of neutrinos by protons and electrons. Measurements of the ratios of muon antineutrino and muon neutrino elastic scattering on protons, and the corresponding ratio for elastic scattering on electrons minimize systematic experimental errors, and lead directly to values of the fundamental parameter of the electroweak interaction, the Weinberg Angle, with minimal ambiguity. Accordingly, the principal motivation in carrying out these studies was the desire to obtain and compare precise values of the Weinberg Angle from both the semileptonic and leptonic reactions as still another test of the basic validity of the standard electroweak theory. 10 refs., 11 figs.

The ratio Rν of the neutral- to charged-current cross sections of neutrinos in iron has been measured in an exposure of the CERN-Dortmund-Heidelberg-Saclay neutrino detector to a 160-GeV/c neutrino narrow-band beam at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The result is Rν=0.3072+/-0.0025(stat)+/- 0.0020(syst), for hadronic energy greater than 10 GeV. The electroweak mixing parameter is sin2thetaW=0.225+/-0.005(expt )+/-0.003(theor)+0.013(mc-1. 5 GeV/c2), where mc is the charm-quark mass.

In a dense neutrino medium neutrinos can experience collective flavor transformation through the neutrino-neutrino forward scattering. In this talk we present some basic features of collective neutrino flavor transformation in the context in core-collapse supernovae. We also give some qualitative arguments for why and when this interesting phenomenon may occur and how it may affect supernova nucleosynthesis.

The properties of the neutrino provide a unique window on physics beyond that described by the standard model. The study of subleading effects in neutrino oscillations, and the race to discover CP-invariance violation in the lepton sector, has begun with the recent discovery that theta(13) > 0. The measured value of theta(13) is large, emphasizing the need for a facility at which the systematic uncertainties can be reduced to the percent level. The neutrino factory, in which intense neutrino beams are produced from the decay of muons, has been shown to outperform all realistic alternatives and to be capable of making measurements of the requisite precision. Its unique discovery potential arises from the fact that only at the neutrino factory is it practical to produce high-energy electron (anti) neutrino beams of the required intensity. This paper presents the conceptual design of the neutrino factory accelerator facility developed by the European Commission Framework Programme 7 EURO nu. Design Study consortium. EURO nu coordinated the European contributions to the International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) collaboration. The EURO nu baseline accelerator facility will provide 10(21) muon decays per year from 12.6 GeV stored muon beams serving a single neutrino detector situated at a source-detector distance of between 1 500 km and 2 500 km. A suite of near detectors will allow definitive neutrino-scattering experiments to be performed.

The properties of the neutrino provide a unique window on physics beyond that described by the standard model. The study of subleading effects in neutrino oscillations, and the race to discover CP-invariance violation in the lepton sector, has begun with the recent discovery that theta(13) > 0. The measured value of theta(13) is large, emphasizing the need for a facility at which the systematic uncertainties can be reduced to the percent level. The neutrino factory, in which intense neutrino beams are produced from the decay of muons, has been shown to outperform all realistic alternatives and to be capable ofmore » making measurements of the requisite precision. Its unique discovery potential arises from the fact that only at the neutrino factory is it practical to produce high-energy electron (anti) neutrino beams of the required intensity. This paper presents the conceptual design of the neutrino factory accelerator facility developed by the European Commission Framework Programme 7 EURO nu. Design Study consortium. EURO nu coordinated the European contributions to the International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) collaboration. The EURO nu baseline accelerator facility will provide 10(21) muon decays per year from 12.6 GeV stored muon beams serving a single neutrino detector situated at a source-detector distance of between 1 500 km and 2 500 km. A suite of near detectors will allow definitive neutrino-scattering experiments to be performed.« less

We study the phenomenology and cosmology of the Majoron (flavon) models of one inert neutrino and three active ones. We pay special attention to the possible (almost) conserved generalization of the Zeldovich-Konopinski-Mahmoud lepton charge. Using Planck scale physics effects, which provide the breaking of the lepton charge, we show how, in this picture, one can incorporate the solutions to some of the central issues in neutrino physics, such as the solar and atmospheric neutrino puzzles, dark matter, and a 17 keV neutrino. These gravitation effects induce tiny Majorana mass terms for neutrinos and considerable masses for flavons. The cosmological demand for the sufficiently fast decay of flavons implies a lower limit on the electronneutrino mass in the range of 0.1-1 eV.

We study the phenomenology and cosmology of the Majoron (flavon) models of three active and one inert neutrino paying special attention to the possible (almost) conserved generalization of the Zeldovich-Konopinski-Mahmoud lepton charge. Using Planck scale physics effects which provide the breaking of the lepton charge, we show how in this picture one can incorporate the solutions to some of the central issues in neutrino physics such as the solar and atmospheric neutrino puzzles and the dark matter problem with the possible existence of a heavy (1-10 keV) neutrino. These gravitational effects induce tiny Majorana mass terms for neutrinos and considerable masses for flavons. The cosmological demand for the sufficiently fast decay of flavons implies a lower limit on the electron-neutrino mass in the range of 0.1-1 eV.

A mode of interaction predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, but not yet observed, is coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering (CNNS). CNNS results from the neutrino (or antineutrino) scattering coherently with the entire nucleus rather than a single nucleon. The leading challenge in detecting CNNS is the resulting sub-keV nuclear recoil energies, producing little ionization in the detector medium. In order to detect the CNNS interaction, it is beneficial to first measure the nuclear ionization yield for the chosen detector medium. The ionization yield represents the expected number of electrons produced by a nuclear recoil, and it depends both on the recoil energy and on the detector medium in which the recoil occurs. Additionally, the ionization yield depends on the applied electron drift electric field, and for this reason it should be measured directly in the detector type anticipated for future CNNS measurements. This dissertation is focused on making the prediction and measurement of the ionization yield in LAr using a dual-phase Ar detector. Due to the complexity of measuring the ionization yield at various energies, it is beneficial to also construct a predictive model for the ionization yield. In this dissertation, the prediction of the ionization yield is made on the basis of a simulation of a two-stage process. The number of ionizations generated from Ar recoil of a given energy is simulated using a Monte Carlo atomic collision model, along with the cross sections for ionization and excitation in Ar + Ar collisions. After the electrons are generated, a fraction of them recombine with the initially generated ion cloud. The electron recombination fraction is simulated by assigning the emitted electrons either 1 or 10 eV of initial kinetic energy and transporting the electrons under the influence of Coulomb forces of the ion cloud and an applied external electric field. The simulation predicts the energy dependent ionization yield, with a value of

The study of neutrino oscillations has necessitated a new generation of neutrino experiments that are exploring neutrino-nuclear scattering processes. We focus in particular on charged-current quasi-elastic scattering, a particularly important channel that has been extensively investigated both in the bubble-chamber era and by current experiments. Recent results have led to theoretical reexamination of this process. We review the standard picture of quasi-elastic scattering as developed in electron scattering, review and discuss experimental results, and discuss additional nuclear effects such as exchange currents and short-range correlations that may play a significant role in neutrino-nucleus scattering.

This dissertation presents the measurement of the semi- inclusive cross-sections for nm and nm -nucleon deep inelastic scattering interactions with two oppositely charged muons in the final state. These events dominantly arise from production of a charm quark during the scattering process. The measurement is obtained from the analysis of 5102 nm induced and 1458 nm induced events collected with the NuTeV detector exposed to a sign selected beam at the Fermilab Tevatron. A leading-order QCD analysis is used to predict charm production cross-section parameters such as the charm mass mc, strange and anti- strange sea quark probability distribution functions s(x, q2), semi-leptonic charm decay branching ratio Bc, and charm fragmentation function parameter ɛ. The result is presented as a nearly model-independent dimuon production cross-section table. I also extract cross-section measurements from a re-analysis of 5030 nm induced and 1060 nm induced events collected from the exposure of the same detector to a quad-triplet beam by the CCFR experiment. The resulting cross-section tables are the most statistically precise measurements of neutrino- induced dimuon production cross-sections to date. These measurements should be of broad use to phenomenologists interested in the dynamics of charm production, the strangeness content of the nucleon, and the CKM matrix element Vcd.

The MiniBooNE neutrino detector at Fermilab (FNAL) is filled with 250,000 gallons of pure mineral oil. The principal signal for MiniBooNE is light observed in a prompt Cherenkov cone. Scattering and fluorescence modify our detection of this light. Scintillation is also created by ionization in the oil. Studies of fluorescence of this oil have been carried out over a wide spectrum of exciting light and time resolved fluorescence with a narrower range of excitation. Polarized scattering measurements have been carried out at longer wavelengths. Time resolved and spectrally resolved scintillation has been studied with a 200 MeV Proton beam at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility. Results of these studies will be reported.

The very low radioactive background of the Borexino detector, its large size, and the well proved capability to detect both low energy electronneutrinos and antineutrinos make an ideal case for the study of short distance neutrino oscillations with artificial sources at Gran Sasso. This paper describes the possible layouts of 51Cr ( ν e ) and 144Ce-144Pr source experiments in Borexino and shows the expected sensitivity to eV mass sterile neutrinos for three possible different phases of the experiment. Expected results on neutrino magnetic moment, electroweak mixing angle, and couplings to axial and vector currents are shown too.

Both active and sterile sub-eV neutrinos can form the cosmic neutrino background in the early Universe. We consider the beta-decaying (e.g., 3H) and EC-decaying (e.g., 163Ho) nuclei as the promising targets to capture relic neutrinos in the laboratory. We calculate the capture rates of relic electronneutrinos and antineutrinos against the corresponding beta decay or electron capture (EC) decay backgrounds in the (3+Ns) flavor mixing scheme, and discuss the future prospect in terms of the PTOLEMY project. We stress that such direct measurements of hot DM might not be hopeless in the long term.

Precision measurement of the leptonic CP violating phase δ will suffer from the, then surviving, large uncertainty of sin2θ23 of 10–20% in the experimentally interesting region near maximal mixing of θ23. We advocate a new method for determination of both θ23 and δ at the same time using only the νe and ν̄e appearance channels and show that sin2θ23 can be determined automatically with much higher accuracy, approximately a factor of six, than sinδ. In this method, we identify a new degeneracy for the simultaneous determination of θ23 and δ, the θ23 intrinsic degeneracy, which must be resolved in ordermore » to achieve precision measurement of these two parameters. Spectral information around the vacuum oscillation maxima is shown to be the best way to resolve this degeneracy.« less

We describe the Library Event Matching classification algorithm implemented for use in the NOνA νμ →νe oscillation measurement. Library Event Matching, developed in a different form by the earlier MINOS experiment, is a powerful approach in which input trial events are compared to a large library of simulated events to find those that best match the input event. A key feature of the algorithm is that the comparisons are based on all the information available in the event, as opposed to higher-level derived quantities. The final event classifier is formed by examining the details of the best-matched library events. We discuss the concept, definition, optimization, and broader applications of the algorithm as implemented here. Library Event Matching is well-suited to the monolithic, segmented detectors of NOνA and thus provides a powerful technique for event discrimination.

This work presents experimental measurements obtained by analyzing the first 254 live days of data from the SNO NaCl run. The electronneutrino flux was measured to be 1.66 +/- 0.10 stat.+0.07 -0.07 (syst.) x 106cm-2s-l and the non-electronneutrino flux was measured to be 3.32 +/- 0.38 stat.+0.26 -0.25 (syst.) x 106cm-2s-1. Using the above results we determined the integrated electronneutrino survival probability to be 0.33 +/- 0.04 stat.+0.02 -0.02 (syst.). This rejects maximum mixing in the solar neutrino sector at more than 3sigma using SNO data only under the assumption that the flavor changing mechanism is due to the MSW effect in the solar interior. The capability of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) to distinguish between the Charged-Current (CC) and Neutral-Current(NC) neutrino interactions made possible the first simultaneous measurements of the electron and non-electron solar neutrino flux, providing a direct test of the hypothesis that neutrinos change flavor as they propagate from the Sun to the Earth. Two tonnes of purified NaCl were added to the one kilotonne of heavy water target of SNO to enhance the neutron capture efficiency and detection of capture gamma-rays. Neutron capture on 35Cl often produces multiple gamma-rays, which permits a statistical separation of neutron capture and electron events based on the event isotropy, the increased statistical separation between event categories, using the degree of event isotropy, made possible a significant improvement on the measured fluxes. Moreover, the flux analysis does not require any assumption regarding the energy dependence of the flavor changing mechanism.

Neutrino-electron scatterings are purely leptonic processes with robust standard model (SM) predictions. Their measurements can therefore provide constraints to physics beyond SM. The {nu}{sub e}-e data taken at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory were used to probe two scenarios: nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI) and unparticle physics. New constraints were placed on the NSI parameters ({epsilon}{sub ee}{sup eL},{epsilon}{sub ee}{sup eR}), ({epsilon}{sub e{mu}}{sup eL},{epsilon}{sub e{mu}}{sup eR}), and ({epsilon}{sub e{tau}}{sup eL},{epsilon}{sub e{tau}}{sup eR}) for the nonuniversal and flavor-changing channels, respectively, as well as to the coupling constants for scalar ({lambda}{sub 0}) and vector ({lambda}{sub 1}) unparticles to the neutrinos and electrons.

We propose a 3500 ton (3000 ton fiducial volume) SiO{sub 2} neutrino detector with sampling calorimetry, charged particle tracking, and muon spectrometers to run in a Tevatron Fixed Target Program. Improvements to the Fermilab accelerator complex should allow substantial increases in the neutrino flux over the previous NuTeV quad triplet beamline. With 4 x 10{sup 19} protons on target/year, a 5 year run would achieve event statistics more than 100 times higher than NuTeV. With 100 times the statistics of previous high energy neutrino experiments, the purely weak processes {nu}{sub {mu}} + e{sup -} {yields} {nu}{sub {mu}} + e{sup -} and {nu}{sub {mu}} + e{sup -} {yields} {nu}{sub e} + {mu}{sup -} (inverse muon decay) can be measured with high accuracy for the first time. The inverse muon decay process is independent of strong interaction effects and can be used to significantly improve the flux normalization for all other processes. The high neutrino and antineutrino fluxes also make new searches for lepton flavor violation and neutral heavy leptons possible. In this document, we give a first look at the physics opportunities, detector and beam design, and calibration procedures.

Current cosmological data drop an interesting hint about the existence of sub-eV sterile neutrinos, which should be a part of the cosmic neutrino background (CνB). We point out that such light sterile neutrinos may leave a distinct imprint on the electron energy spectrum in the capture of relic electronneutrinos by means of radioactive beta-decaying nuclei. We examine possible signals of sterile neutrinos relative to active neutrinos, characterized by their masses and sensitive to their number densities, in the reaction ν+H3→He3+e- against the corresponding tritium beta decay. We stress that this kind of direct laboratory detection of the CνB and its sterile component might not be hopeless in the long term.

Previous work has shown that the cooling of SN 1987A excludes a Dirac-neutrino mass greater than theta(20 keV) for nu(sub e), nu(sub mu), or nu(sub tau). The emission of wrong-helicity, Dirac neutrinos from SN 1987A, is re-examined. It is concluded that the effect of a Dirac neutrino on the cooling of SN 1987A has been underestimated due to neutrino degeneracy and additional emission processes. The limit that follows from the cooling of SN 1987A is believed to be greater (probably much greater) than 10 keV. This result is significant in light of the recent evidence for a 17 keV mass eigenstate that mixes with the electronneutrino.

The article begins with a description of chiral symmetry and its application to neutrino induced reactions. For small Q{sup 2} (forward direction) the process is dominated by the amplitute with helicity zero where the pion pole disappears when multiplied with the polarization vector. The remaining part of the amplitude is determined by PCAC. For E{sub ν} > 2 GeV the computed cross sections are in good agreement with data. In coherent pion production we expect equal yields for neutrinos and antineutrinos a relation which for E{sub ν} > 2 GeV is fulfilled. We discuss specific features of the data and suggest methods for improving them by presenting new estimates for the incoherent background.

The CMS e+e-jj events of invariant mass near 2 TeV are consistent with a W' boson decaying into an electron and a right-handed neutrino whose TeV-scale mass is of the Dirac type. We show that the Dirac partner of the right-handed electron-neutrino can be the right-handed tau-neutrino. Furthermore, a prediction of this model is that the sum of the τ+e+jj and τ-e-jj signal cross sections equals twice that for e+e-jj. The Standard Model neutrinos acquire Majorana masses and mixings compatible with neutrino oscillation data.

Numerous anomalous results in neutrino oscillation experiments can be attributed to the interference of an ˜1 eV sterile neutrino. The Baksan Experiment on Sterile Transitions (BEST), specially designed to fully explore the Gallium anomaly, starts next year. We investigate the sensitivity of BEST in search of a sterile neutrino mixed with an electronneutrino. Then, performing the combined analysis of all the Gallium experiments (SAGE, GALLEX, BEST), we find the region in the model parameter space (sterile neutrino mass and mixing angle) which will be excluded if BEST agrees with no sterile neutrino hypothesis. For the opposite case, if BEST observes the signal as it follows from the sterile neutrino explanation of the Gallium (SAGE and GALLEX) anomaly, we show how BEST will improve upon the present estimates of the model parameters.

The concept of using a muon storage ring to provide a well characterized beam of muon and electronneutrinos (a Neutrino Factory) has been under study for a number of years now at various laboratories throughout the world. The physics program of a Neutrino Factoryis focused on the relatively unexplored neutrino sector. In conjunction with a detector located a suitable distance from the neutrino source, the facility would make valuable contributions to the study of neutrino masses and lepton mixing. A Neutrino Factory is expected to improve the measurement accuracy of sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 23}) and {Delta}m{sup 2}{sub 32} and provide measurements of sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 13}) and the sign of {Delta}m{sup 2}{sub 32}. It may also be able to measure CP violation in the lepton sector.

A number of experiments have accumulated over the years a large amount of solar neutrino data. The data indicate that the observed solar neutrino flux is significantly smaller than expected and, furthermore, that the electronneutrino survival probability is energy dependent. This ''solar neutrino problem'' is best solved by assuming that the electronneutrino oscillates into another neutrino species. Even though one can classify the solar neutrino deficit as strong evidence for neutrino oscillations, it is not yet considered a definitive proof. Traditional objections are that the evidence for solar neutrino oscillations relies on a combination of hard, different experiments, and that the Standard Solar Model (SSM) might not be accurate enough to precisely predict the fluxes of different solar neutrino components. Even though it seems unlikely that modifications to the SSM alone can explain the current solar neutrino data, one still cannot completely discount the possibility that a combination of unknown systematic errors in some of the experiments and certain modifications to the SSM could conspire to yield the observed data. To conclusively demonstrate that there is indeed new physics in solar neutrinos, new experiments are aiming at detecting ''smoking gun'' signatures of neutrino oscillations, such as an anomalous seasonal variation in the observed neutrino flux or a day-night variation due to the regeneration of electronneutrinos in the Earth. In this dissertation we study the sensitivity reach of two upcoming neutrino experiments, Borexino and KamLAND, to both of these effects. Results of neutrino oscillation experiments for the case of two-flavor oscillations have always been presented on the (sin{sup 2} 2{theta}, {Delta}m{sup 2}) parameter space. We point out, however, that this parameterization misses the half of the parameter space {pi}/4 < {theta} {le} {pi}/2, which is physically inequivalent to the region 0 {le} {theta} {le} {pi}/4 in the presence of

In recent years, experimental anomalies ranging in significance (2.8-3.8 σ) have been reported from a variety of experiments studying neutrinos over baselines less than 1 km. Results from the LSND and MiniBooNE short-baseline νe /νe appearance experiments show anomalies which cannot be described by oscillations between the three standard model neutrinos (the ``LSND anomaly''). In addition, a re-analysis of the anti-neutrino flux produced by nuclear power reactors has led to an apparent deficit in νe event rates in a number of reactor experiments (the ``reactor anomaly''). Similarly, calibration runs using 51Cr and 37Ar radioactive sources in the Gallium solar neutrino experiments GALLEX and SAGE have shown an unexplained deficit in the electronneutrino event rate over very short distances (the ``Gallium anomaly''). The puzzling results from these experiments, which together may suggest the existence of physics beyond the Standard Model and hint at exciting new physics, including the possibility of additional low-mass sterile neutrino states, have raised the interest in the community for new experimental efforts that could eventually solve this puzzle. Definitive evidence for sterile neutrinos would be a revolutionary discovery, with implications for particle physics as well as cosmology. Proposals to address these signals by employing accelerator, reactor and radioactive source experiments are in the planning stages or underway worldwide. In this talk some of these will be reviewed, with emphasis on the accelerator programs.

The survival probability of solar electronneutrinos after non-adiabatic passage through the resonance-oscillation region in the Sun is discussed for the case of three generations. A method to calculate three-generation Landau-Zener transition probabilities between adiabatic states is described. We also discuss how the Landua-Zener probability is modified in the extreme non-adiabatic case.

Interactions with neutrons and protons play a crucial role for the neutrino opacity of matter in the supernova core. Their current implementation in many simulation codes, however, is rather schematic and ignores not only modifications for the correlated nuclear medium of the nascent neutron star, but also free-space corrections from nucleon recoil, weak magnetism, or strange quarks, which can easily add up to changes of several 10% for neutrino energies in the spectral peak. In the Garching supernova simulations with the Prometheus-Vertex code, such sophistications have been included for a long time except for the strange-quark contributions to the nucleon spin, which affect neutral-current neutrinoscattering. We demonstrate on the basis of a 20 {M}ȯ progenitor star that a moderate strangeness-dependent contribution of {g}{{a}}{{s}}=-0.2 to the axial-vector coupling constant {g}{{a}}≈ 1.26 can turn an unsuccessful three-dimensional (3D) model into a successful explosion. Such a modification is in the direction of current experimental results and reduces the neutral-current scattering opacity of neutrons, which dominate in the medium around and above the neutrinosphere. This leads to increased luminosities and mean energies of all neutrino species and strengthens the neutrino-energy deposition in the heating layer. Higher nonradial kinetic energy in the gain layer signals enhanced buoyancy activity that enables the onset of the explosion at ∼300 ms after bounce, in contrast to the model with vanishing strangeness contributions to neutrino–nucleon scattering. Our results demonstrate the close proximity to explosion of the previously published, unsuccessful 3D models of the Garching group.

We review our theoretical approach to neutral current photon emission on nucleons and nuclei in the few-GeV energy region, relevant for neutrino oscillation experiments. These reactions are dominated by the weak excitation of the Δ(1232) resonance but there are also important non-resonant contributions. We have also included terms mediated by nucleon excitations from the second resonance region. On nuclei, Pauli blocking, Fermi motion and the in-medium Δ resonance broadening have been taken into account for both incoherent and coherent reaction channels. With this model, the number and distributions of photon events at the MiniBooNE and T2K experiments have been obtained. We have also compared to the NOMAD upper limit at higher energies. The implications of our findings and future perspectives are discussed.

We review our theoretical approach to neutral current photon emission on nucleons and nuclei in the few-GeV energy region, relevant for neutrino oscillation experiments. These reactions are dominated by the weak excitation of the Δ(1232) resonance but there are also important non-resonant contributions. We have also included terms mediated by nucleon excitations from the second resonance region. On nuclei, Pauli blocking, Fermi motion and the in-medium Δ resonance broadening have been taken into account for both incoherent and coherent reaction channels. With this model, the number and distributions of photon events at the MiniBooNE and T2K experiments have been obtained. We have also compared to the NOMAD upper limit at higher energies. The implications of our findings and future perspectives are discussed.

The phenomenon of coherent, neutral-current scattering of neutrinos from nuclei was first proposed by D.Z. Freedman in 1974, who posited that an effort to observe this effect experimentally ``may be an act of hubris'' owing to extreme experimental difficulties. Taking advantage of technologies which have come to maturity and new experience gained in the intervening 40 years, the newly-formed COHERENT collaboration seeks to measure for the first time coherent, elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE ν NS). Using neutrinos created by stopped pions at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, several detector systems will be deployed to limit systematic uncertainties and unambiguously observe the N2 -dependence on the cross section. The current status of the efforts of the collaboration will be addressed, focusing on detector technologies and calibration of these detectors for low-energy nuclear recoils. We will also discuss the longer-term physics goals of the collaboration, including astrophysical implications of the measurements and the use CE ν NS as a probe to search for non-standard neutrino interactions and as a way to measure the weak mixing angle.

We investigate the potential of a flavor pure high gamma electron capture electronneutrino beam directed towards a large Water Cherenkov detector with 500 kt fiducial mass. The energy of the neutrinos is reconstructed by the position measurement within the detector and superb energy resolution capabilities could be achieved. We estimate the requirements for such a scenario to be competitive to a neutrino/anti-neutrino running at a neutrino factory with less accurate energy resolution. Although the requirements turn out to be extreme, in principle such a scenario could achieve as good abilities to resolve correlations and degeneracies in the search for sin2 2θ13 and δCP as a standard neutrino factory experiment.

LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) is a proposed next-generation neutrino detector based on 50 kilotons of liquid scintillator. The low detection threshold, good energy resolution and excellent background rejection inherent to the liquid-scintillator detectors make LENA a versatile observatory for low-energy neutrinos from astrophysical and terrestrial sources. In the framework of the European LAGUNA-LBNO design study, LENA is also considered as far detector for a very-long baseline neutrino beam from CERN to Pyhäsalmi (Finland). The present contribution gives an overview LENA's broad research program, highlighting the unique capabilities of liquid scintillator for the detection of low-energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources. In particular, it will focus on the precision measurement of the solar neutrino spectrum: The search for time modulations in the 7Be neutrino flux, the determination of the electronneutrino survival probability in the low-energy region of the 8B spectrum and the favorable detection conditions for neutrinos from the CNO fusion cycle.

The MiniBooNE experiment has reported a number of high statistics neutrino and anti-neutrino cross sections -among which are the charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) and neutral current elastic (NCE) neutrinoscattering on mineral oil (CH{sub 2}). Recently a study of the neutrino contamination of the anti-neutrino beam has concluded and the analysis of the anti-neutrino CCQE and NCE scattering is ongoing.

High-sensitivity searches for transitions of muon neutrinos to electronneutrinos are the main task of the T2K (Tokai-to-Kamioka) second-generation long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment. The present article is devoted to describing basic principles of T2K, surveying experimental apparatuses that it includes, and considering in detail the muon-range detector (SMRD) designed and manufactured by a group of physicists from the Institute of Nuclear Research (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow). The results of the first measurements with a neutrino beam are presented, and plans for the near future are discussed.

Elastic neutrinoscattering off electrons in crystalline silicon at 1-10 mK results in measurable temperature changes in macroscopic amounts of material, even for low-energy (less than 0.41-MeV) pp neutrinos from the sun. New detectors for bolometric measurement of low-energy neutrino interactions, including coherent nuclear elastic scattering, are proposed. A new and more sensitive search for oscillations of reactor antineutrinos is practical (about 100 kg of Si), and would lay the groundwork for a more ambitious measurement of the spectrum of pp, Be-7, and B-8 solar neutrinos, and of supernovae anywhere in the Galaxy (about 10 tons of Si).

The Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) long-baseline neutrino experiment consists of a muon neutrino beam, produced at the J-PARC accelerator, a near detector complex and a large 295-km-distant far detector. The present work utilizes the T2K event timing measurements at the near and far detectors to study neutrino time of flight as a function of derived neutrino energy. Under the assumption of a relativistic relation between energy and time of flight, constraints on the neutrino rest mass can be derived. The sub-GeV neutrino beam in conjunction with timing precision of order tens of ns provide sensitivity to neutrino mass in the few MeV /c2 range. We study the distribution of relative arrival times of muon and electronneutrino candidate events at the T2K far detector as a function of neutrino energy. The 90% C.L. upper limit on the mixture of neutrino mass eigenstates represented in the data sample is found to be mν2<5.6 MeV2/c4 .

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) combines an ultra-luminous molecular tritium source with an integrating high-resolution spectrometer to gain sensitivity to the absolute mass scale of neutrinos. The projected sensitivity of the experiment on the electronneutrino mass is 200 meV at 90% C.L. With such unprecedented resolution, the experiment is also sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model, particularly to the existence of additional sterile neutrinos at the eV mass scale. A recent analysis of available reactor data appears to favor the existence of such a sterile neutrino with a mass splitting of | Δmsterile | 2 ⩾ 1.5eV2 and mixing strength of sin2 2θsterile = 0.17 ± 0.08 at 95% C.L. Upcoming tritium beta decay experiments should be able to rule out or confirm the presence of the new phenomenon for a substantial fraction of the allowed parameter space.

The investigation of the oscillation pattern induced by the sterile neutrinos might determine the oscillation parameters, and at the same time, allow to probe CPT symmetry in the leptonic sector through neutrino-antineutrino mass inequality. We propose to use a large scintillation detector like JUNO or LENA to detect electronneutrinos and electron antineutrinos from MCi electron capture or beta decay sources. Our calculations indicate that such an experiment is realistic and could be performed in parallel to the current research plans for JUNO and RENO. Requiring at least 5σ confidence level and assuming the values of the oscillation parameters indicated by the current global fit, we would be able to detect neutrino-antineutrino mass inequality of the order of 0.5% or larger, which would imply a signal of CPT anomalies.

In nuclear reactors, 239Pu are produced along with burn-up of nuclear fuel. 239Pu is subject of safeguard controls since it is an explosive component of nuclear weapon. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is watching undeclared operation of reactors to prevent illegal production and removal of 239Pu. In operating reactors, a huge numbers of anti electronneutrinos (ν) are produced. Neutrino flux is approximately proportional to the operating power of reactor in short term and long term decrease of the neutrino flux per thermal power is proportional to the amount of 239Pu produced. Thus rector ν's carry direct and real time information useful for the safeguard purposes. Since ν can not be hidden, it could be an ideal medium to monitor the reactor operation. IAEA seeks for novel technologies which enhance their ability and reactor neutrino monitoring is listed as one of such candidates. Currently neutrino physicists are performing R&D of small reactor neutrino detectors to use specifically for the safeguard use in response to the IAEA interest. In this proceedings of the neutrino2012 conference, possibilities of such reactor neutrinos application and current world-wide R&D status are described.

The long standing negative (mass){sup 2} anomaly encountered in attempts to measure the mass of the electronneutrino may be an indication of physics beyond the standard model. It is demonstrated that an additional charged current interaction which is not of V--A form, and which is at least an order of magnitude weaker than the standard model charged current interaction, will produce a spectrum, which, if fitted by the standard model, may give a negative value for m{sub {nu}}{sup 2}. A possible physical explanation of the time dependent effects seen by the Troitsk experiment is also provided.

The production of single, highly forward {pi}{sup 0} mesons by NC coherent neutrino-nucleus interactions ({nu}{sub {mu}} + N {yields} {nu}{sub {mu}} + N + {pi}{sup 0}) is a process which probes fundamental aspects of the weak interaction. This reaction may also pose as a limiting background for long baseline searches for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillations if the neutrino mixing angle {theta}{sub 13} is very small. The high-statistics sample of neutrino interactions recorded by the MINOS Near Detector provides an opportunity to measure the cross section of this coherent reaction on a relatively large-A nucleus at an average E{sub {nu}} = 4.9 GeV. A major challenge for this measurement is the isolation of forward-going electromagnetic (EM) showers produced by the relatively rare coherent NC({pi}{sup 0}) process amidst an abundant rate of incoherently produced EM showers. The backgrounds arise from single {pi}{sup 0} dominated NC events and also from quasi-elastic-like CC scattering of electronneutrinos. In this Thesis the theory of coherent interactions is summarized, and previous measurements of the coherent NC({pi}{sup 0}) cross section are reviewed. Then, methods for selecting a sample of coherent NC({pi}{sup 0}) like events, extracting the coherent NC({pi}{sup 0}) event rate from that sample, estimating the analysis uncertainties, and calculating a cross section, are presented. A signal for neutrino-induced NC({pi}{sup 0}) production is observed in the relevant kinematic regime as an excess of events of three standard deviations above background. The reaction cross sections, averaged over an energy window of 2.5 {<=} E{sub {nu}} {<=} 9.0 GeV is determined to be (31.6{+-}10.5) x 10{sup -40} cm{sup 2}/nucleus. The result is the first evidence obtained for neutrino-nucleus coherent NC({pi}{sup 0}) scattering on iron, and is the first measurement on an average nuclear target above A = 30. The cross section measurement is in agreement with NEUGEN3

The primary goal of the NOνA neutrino oscillation experiment is to study the probabilities of transformation of muonic-neutrinos into electron-neutrinos. The experiment is currently under construction and will use a 700 kW accelerator-based NuMI beam (Neutrinos at the Main Injector) and two detectors. The Near Detector (329 t at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Illinois) and the Far Detector (14 kt, Ash River, Minnesota) are aligned to 14 mrad off-axis and separated by 810 km. They are made of active liquid scintillator and readout by avalanche photo-diodes. Recent results from world-wide neutrino experiments indicate that NOνA is in the position to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy as it is also searching for the first hints of CP violation in neutrino sector. The design, the goals and the current status of the NOνA experiment are presented here with the current estimates of its sensitivity to the mass hierarchy measurement.

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). There are two components to this work. The first is a development of a new detection scheme for neutrinos. The observed deficit of neutrinos from the Sun may be due to either a lack of understanding of physical processes in the Sun or may be due to neutrinos oscillating from one type to another during their transit from the Sun to the Earth. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is designed to use a water Cerenkov detector employing one thousand tonnes of heavy water to resolve this question. The ability to distinguish muon and tau neutrinos from electronneutrinos is crucial in order to carry out a model-independent test of neutrino oscillations. We describe a developmental exploration of a novel technique to do this using {sup 3}He proportional counters. Such a method offers considerable advantages over the initially proposed method of using Cerenkov light from capture on NaCl in the SNO. The second component of this work is an exploration of optimal detector geometry for a time-reversal invariance experiment. The question of why time moves only in the forward direction is one of the most puzzling problems in modern physics. We know from particle physics measurements of the decay of kaons that there is a charge-parity symmetry that is violated in nature, implying time-reversal invariance violation. Yet, we do not understand the origin of the violation of this symmetry. To promote such an understanding, we are developing concepts and prototype apparatus for a new, highly sensitive technique to search for time-reversal-invariance violation in the beta decay of the free neutron. The optimized detector geometry is seven times more sensitive than that in previous experiments. 15 refs.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) detector was developed by an international scientific collaboration (Canada, US, UK) to use 1000 tonnes of heavy water 2 km underground in ultra-clean conditions to observe flavor change for solar neutrinos from 8B decay in the sun. A clear observation of neutrino change was obtained by comparing two neutrino reactions on deuterium, one sensitive only to electron flavor neutrinos and one sensitive equally to all active neutrino types. The design and construction and the operation and data analysis for the three separate phases of the experiment will be described. The initial phase with pure heavy water provided conclusive evidence for flavor change and hence finite mass for neutrinos. Subsequent phases within added NaCl and with an array of neutron detectors provided improved accuracy for the measurements of oscillation parameters. The observed total flux of 8B solar electronneutrinos is in excellent agreement with and more accurate than solar models. Modification of the SNO detector to create SNO + and expansion of the laboratory to create a long-term international underground laboratory, SNOLAB, will be briefly described.

We present limits on sterile neutrino mixing using 4,438 live-days of atmospheric neutrino data from the Super-Kamiokande experiment. We search for fast oscillations driven by an eV2 -scale mass splitting and for oscillations into sterile neutrinos instead of tau neutrinos at the atmospheric mass splitting. When performing both of these searches we assume that the sterile mass splitting is large, allowing sin2(Δ m2L /4 E ) to be approximated as 0.5, and we assume that there is no mixing between electronneutrinos and sterile neutrinos (|Ue 4|2=0 ). No evidence of sterile oscillations is seen and we limit |Uμ 4|2 to less than 0.041 and |Uτ 4|2 to less than 0.18 for Δ m2>0.1 eV2 at the 90% C.L. in a 3 +1 framework. The approximations that can be made with atmospheric neutrinos allow these limits to be easily applied to 3 +N models, and we provide our results in a generic format to allow comparisons with other sterile neutrino models.

The MiniBooNE experiment has reported a number of high statistics neutrino and anti-neutrino cross sections -among which are the charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) and neutral current elastic (NCE) neutrinoscattering on mineral oil (CH2). Recently a study of the neutrino contamination of the anti-neutrino beam has concluded and the analysis of the anti-neutrino CCQE and NCE scattering is ongoing.

The neutrino masses are one of the most important open problems in particle physics. Presently major efforts are underway to measure the electron antineutrino-mass by the triton beta decay [1] and the effective Majorana neutrino mass by the double beta decay [2]. The best way to determine the neutrino mass by electron capture was assumed to be in {}163{Ho}. The total decay energy of the excited daughter atom has for all excitations the same upper energy limit of the Q-value minus the mass of the electronneutrino. Recently Robertson [3] claimed, that the excitation of the two-hole states makes the determination of the neutrino mass by this method practically impossible. But Faessler and Simkovic [4] showed, that the influence of the two-hole states is less than 1% near the Q-value, the area relevant for the determination of the neutrino mass. Even weaker are the contributions of the three-hole states [5]. The upper end of the calorimetric deexcitation spectrum of Dy is dominated by the highest energy one-hole resonance. With a Lorentzian profile of this resonance one has to fit after including the experimental sensitivity four parameters: (1) the neutrino mass, (2) the Q-value, (3) the width of the resonance and (4) its strength. This contribution discusses the problems of the determination of the neutrino mass by electron capture in {}163{Ho}. The conclusion of this work is, that the determination of the electronneutrino mass by electron capture in {}163{Ho} is difficult, but (probably) not impossible.

A laboratory has been constructed by the TEXONO Collaboration at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Power Plant in Taiwan to study low energy neutrino physics. A limit on the neutrino magnetic moment of {mu}{nu}({nu}-bare) < 7.2 x 10-11 {mu}B at 90% confidence level has been achieved from measurements with a high-purity germanium detector, as well as the electronneutrinos ({nu}{sub e}) produced from nuclear power reactors has been studied. Other research program at Kuo-Sheng are surveyed.

Project 8 is a neutrino mass measurement experiment. It uses radio frequency techniques to observe the cyclotron radiation from beta-decay electrons trapped in a magnetic bottle. From the electrons' cyclotron frequencies, the beta-decay energy spectrum, and thus the mass of the electronneutrino may be observed. This nondestructive energy measurement technique may provide improved sensitivity to the neutrino mass over previous experiments. Currently, Project 8 is seeking to demonstrate an energy measurement made on single electrons. Recent progress and prototype status will be discussed.

We present the first two-dimensional general relativistic (GR) simulations of stellar core collapse and explosion with the COCONUT hydrodynamics code in combination with the VERTEX solver for energy-dependent, three-flavor neutrino transport, using the extended conformal flatness condition for approximating the space-time metric and a ray-by-ray-plus ansatz to tackle the multi-dimensionality of the transport. For both of the investigated 11.2 and 15 M ⊙ progenitors we obtain successful, though seemingly marginal, neutrino-driven supernova explosions. This outcome and the time evolution of the models basically agree with results previously obtained with the PROMETHEUS hydro solver including an approximative treatment of relativistic effects by a modified Newtonian potential. However, GR models exhibit subtle differences in the neutrinospheric conditions compared with Newtonian and pseudo-Newtonian simulations. These differences lead to significantly higher luminosities and mean energies of the radiated electronneutrinos and antineutrinos and therefore to larger energy-deposition rates and heating efficiencies in the gain layer with favorable consequences for strong nonradial mass motions and ultimately for an explosion. Moreover, energy transfer to the stellar medium around the neutrinospheres through nucleon recoil in scattering reactions of heavy-lepton neutrinos also enhances the mentioned effects. Together with previous pseudo-Newtonian models, the presented relativistic calculations suggest that the treatment of gravity and energy-exchanging neutrino interactions can make differences of even 50%-100% in some quantities and is likely to contribute to a finally successful explosion mechanism on no minor level than hydrodynamical differences between different dimensions.

We present the first two-dimensional general relativistic (GR) simulations of stellar core collapse and explosion with the COCONUT hydrodynamics code in combination with the VERTEX solver for energy-dependent, three-flavor neutrino transport, using the extended conformal flatness condition for approximating the space-time metric and a ray-by-ray-plus ansatz to tackle the multi-dimensionality of the transport. For both of the investigated 11.2 and 15 M{sub Sun} progenitors we obtain successful, though seemingly marginal, neutrino-driven supernova explosions. This outcome and the time evolution of the models basically agree with results previously obtained with the PROMETHEUS hydro solver including an approximative treatment of relativistic effects by a modified Newtonian potential. However, GR models exhibit subtle differences in the neutrinospheric conditions compared with Newtonian and pseudo-Newtonian simulations. These differences lead to significantly higher luminosities and mean energies of the radiated electronneutrinos and antineutrinos and therefore to larger energy-deposition rates and heating efficiencies in the gain layer with favorable consequences for strong nonradial mass motions and ultimately for an explosion. Moreover, energy transfer to the stellar medium around the neutrinospheres through nucleon recoil in scattering reactions of heavy-lepton neutrinos also enhances the mentioned effects. Together with previous pseudo-Newtonian models, the presented relativistic calculations suggest that the treatment of gravity and energy-exchanging neutrino interactions can make differences of even 50%-100% in some quantities and is likely to contribute to a finally successful explosion mechanism on no minor level than hydrodynamical differences between different dimensions.

The properties of neutrinos and especially their rest mass play an important role at the intersections of cosmology, particle physics and astroparticle physics. At present there are two complementary approaches to address this topic in laboratory experiments. The search for neutrinoless double beta decay probes whether neutrinos are Majorana particles and determines an effective neutrino mass value. On the other hand experiments such as MARE, KATRIN and the recently proposed Project 8 will investigate the spectral shape of β-decay electrons close to their kinematic endpoint in order to determine the neutrino rest mass with a model-independent method. Here, because of neutrino flavour mixing, the neutrino mass appears as an average of all neutrino mass eigenstates contributing to the electronneutrino. The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) is currently the experiment in the most advanced status of commissioning. It combines an ultra-luminous molecular windowless gaseous tritium source with an integrating high-resolution spectrometer of MAC-E filter type. It will investigate the neutrino rest mass with 0.2 eV/c (90% C.L.) sensitivity and allow β spectroscopy close to the T endpoint at 18.6 keV with unprecedented precision.

The NOνA is a long base-line neutrino oscillation experiment. It will study the oscillations between muon and electronneutrinos through the Earth. NOνA consists of two detectors separated by 810 km. Each detector will measure the electronneutrino content of the neutrino (NuMI) beam. Differences between the measurements will reveal details about the oscillation channel. The NOνA collaboration built a prototype detector on the surface at Fermilab in order to develop calibration, simulation, and reconstruction tools, using real data. This 220 ton detector is 110 mrad off the NuMI beam axis. This off-axis location allows the observation of neutrino interactions with energies around 2 GeV, where neutrinos come predominantly from charged kaon decays. During the period between October 2011 and April 2012, the prototype detector collected neutrino data from 1.67 × 1020 protons on target delivered by the NuMI beam. This analysis selected a number of candidate charged current muon neutrino events from the prototype data, which is 30% lower than predicted by the NOνA Monte Carlo simulation. The analysis suggests that the discrepancy comes from an over estimation of the neutrino flux in the Monte Carlo simulation, and in particular, from neutrinos generated in charged kaon decays. The ratio of measured divided by the simulated flux of muon neutrinos coming from charged kaon decays is: 0.70+0.108-0.094. The NOνA collaboration may use the findings of this analysis to introduce a more accurate prediction of the neutrino flux produced by the NuMI beam in future Monte Carlo simulations.

The distortions in the thermal energy spectra for neutrinos produced in a supernova when a resonant oscillation, MSW effect, occurs are determined. In order to show this effect for some relevant and representative examples of unified gauge models, the authors have chosen SO(10), and SU(5)SUSY, SO(10)SUSY with a particular scheme for fermion masses (DHR model). The analysis has been performed for two choices of neutrinos parameters, predicted by the above models, and capable to explain the solar neutrino problem. In both cases one observes a strong distortion in the electronneutrino energy spectrum. This effect, computed for a wide range of SO(10)SUSY models has produced the same results of the previous supersymmetric ones.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a water imaging Cherenkov detector. Its usage of 1000 metric tons of D{sub 2}O as target allows the SNO detector to make a solar-model independent test of the neutrino oscillation hypothesis by simultaneously measuring the solar {nu}{sub e} flux and the total flux of all active neutrino species. Solar neutrinos from the decay of {sup 8}B have been detected at SNO by the charged-current (CC) interaction on the deuteron and by the elastic scattering (ES) of electrons. While the CC reaction is sensitive exclusively to {nu}{sub e}, the ES reaction also has a small sensitivity to {nu}{sub {mu}} and {nu}{sub {tau}}. In this paper, recent solar neutrino results from the SNO experiment are presented. It is demonstrated that the solar flux from {sup 8}B decay as measured from the ES reaction rate under the no-oscillation assumption is consistent with the high precision ES measurement by the Super-Kamiokande experiment. The {nu}{sub e} flux deduced from the CC reaction rate in SNO differs from the Super-Kamiokande ES results by 3.3{sigma}. This is evidence for an active neutrino component, in additional to {nu}{sub e}, in the solar neutrino flux. These results also allow the first experimental determination of the total active {sup 8}B neutrino flux from the Sun, and is found to be in good agreement with solar model predictions.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a water imaging Cherenkov detector. Its usage of 1000 metric tons of D{sub 2}O as target allows the SNO detector to make a solar-model independent test of the neutrino oscillation hypothesis by simultaneously measuring the solar {nu}{sub e} flux and the total flux of all active neutrino species. Solar neutrinos from the decay of {sup 8}B have been detected at SNO by the charged-current (CC) interaction on the deuteron and by the elastic scattering (ES) of electrons. While the CC reaction is sensitive exclusively to {nu}{sub e}, the ES reaction also has a small sensitivity to {nu}{sub {mu}} and {nu}{sub {tau}}. In this paper, recent solar neutrino results from the SNO experiment are presented. It is demonstrated that the solar flux from {sup 8}B decay as measured from the ES reaction rate under the no-oscillation assumption is consistent with the high precision ES measurement by the Super-Kamiokande experiment. The {nu}{sub e} flux deduced from the CC reaction rate in SNO differs from the Super-Kamiokande ES results by 3.3{sigma}. This is evidence for an active neutrino component, in additional to {nu}{sub e}, in the solar neutrino flux. These results also allow the first experimental determination of the total active {sup 8}B neutrino flux from the Sun, and is found to be in good agreement with solar model predictions.

We perform three-flavor Boltzmann neutrino transport radiation hydrodynamics simulations covering a period of 3 s after the formation of a protoneutron star in a core-collapse supernova explosion. Our results show that a treatment of charged-current neutrino interactions in hot and dense matter as suggested by Reddy et al. [Phys. Rev. D 58, 013009 (1998)] has a strong impact on the luminosities and spectra of the emitted neutrinos. When compared with simulations that neglect mean-field effects on the neutrino opacities, we find that the luminosities of all neutrino flavors are reduced while the spectral differences between electronneutrinos and antineutrinos are increased. Their magnitude depends on the equation of state and in particular on the symmetry energy at subnuclear densities. These modifications reduce the proton-to-nucleon ratio of the outflow, increasing slightly their entropy. They are expected to have a substantial impact on nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds, even though they do not result in conditions that favor an r process. Contrary to previous findings, our results show that the spectra of electronneutrinos remain substantially different from those of other (anti)neutrino flavors during the entire deleptonization phase of the protoneutron star. The obtained luminosity and spectral changes are also expected to have important consequences for neutrino flavor oscillations and neutrino detection on Earth. PMID:23368446

Neutrino-dominated accretion flows (NDAFs) around rotating stellar-mass black holes (BHs) have been theorized as the central engine of relativistic jets launched in massive star core collapse events or compact star mergers. In this work, we calculate the electronneutrino/antineutrino spectra of NDAFs by fully taking into account the general relativistic effects, and investigate the effects of viewing angle, BH spin, and mass accretion rate on the results. We show that even though a typical NDAF has a neutrino luminosity lower than that of a typical supernova (SN), it can reach 1050- 1051 erg s-1 peaking at ˜10 MeV , making NDAFs potentially detectable with the upcoming sensitive MeV neutrino detectors if they are close enough to Earth. Based on the observed gamma-ray burst (GRB) event rate in the local universe and requiring that at least three neutrinos are detected to claim a detection, we estimate a detection rate up to ˜(0.10 - 0.25 ) per century for GRB-related NDAFs by the Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) detector if one neglects neutrino oscillation. If one assumes that all type Ib/c SNe have an engine-driven NDAF, the Hyper-K detection rate would be ˜(1 - 3 ) per century. By considering neutrino oscillations, the detection rate may decrease by a factor of 2-3. Detecting one such event would establish the observational evidence of NDAFs in the Universe.

We have constrained unparticle interactions with neutrinos and electrons using available data on neutrino-electron elastic scattering and the four CERN LEP experiments data on mono photon production. We have found that, for neutrino-electron elastic scattering, the MUNU experiment gives better constraints than previous reported limits in the region d>1.5. The results are compared with the current astrophysical limits, pointing out the cases where these limits may or may not apply. We also discuss the sensitivity of future experiments to unparticle physics. In particular, we show that the measurement of coherent reactor neutrinoscattering off nuclei could provide a good sensitivity to the couplings of unparticle interaction with neutrinos and quarks. We also discuss the case of future neutrino-electron experiments as well as the International Linear Collider.

Recent studies of neutrino oscillations have established the existence of finite neutrino masses and mixing between generations of neutrinos. The combined results from studies of atmospheric neutrinos, solar neutrinos, reactor antineutrinos and neutrinos produced at accelerators paint an intriguing picture that clearly requires modification of the standard model of particle physics. These results also provide clear motivation for future neutrino oscillation experiments as well as searches for direct neutrino mass and nuclear double-beta decay. I will discuss the program of new neutrino oscillation experiments aimed at completing our knowledge of the neutrino mixing matrix.

Massive neutrinos are expected in most grand unified theories that attempt to unify the strong and electroweak interactions. So far, heroic laboratory experiments have yielded only upper bounds on the masses of the elusive neutrinos. These bounds, however, are not very restrictive and cannot even exclude the possibility that the dark matter in the universe consists of neutrinos. The astrophysical and cosmological bounds on the masses of the muon and tau neutrinos, m(nu sub mu) and m(nu sub tau), which already are much more restrictive than the laboratory bounds, and the laboratory bound on the mass of the electronneutrino, m(nu sub e) can be improved significantly by future astrophysical and cosmological observations that perhaps will pin down the neutrino masses. Indeed, the recent results from the solar neutrino experiments combined with the seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses suggest that m(nu sub e) of about 10 to the -8th electron volts, m(nu sub mu) of about 0.001 electron volts, and m(nu sub tau) of about 10 electron volts, which can be tested in the near future by solar neutrino and accelerator experiments.

Massive neutrinos are expected in most grand unified theories that attempt to unify the strong and electroweak interactions. So far, heroic laboratory experiments have yielded only upper bounds on the masses of the elusive neutrinos. These bounds, however, are not very restrictive and cannot even exclude the possibility that the dark matter in the universe consists of neutrinos. The astrophysical and cosmological bounds on the masses of the muon and tau neutrinos, m{sub {nu}{sub {mu}}} and m{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}}, which already are much more restrictive than the laboratory bounds, and the laboratory bound on the mass of the electronneutrino, m{sub {nu}{sub e}}, can be improved significantly by future astrophysical and cosmological observations that perhaps will pin down the neutrino masses. Indeed, the recent results from the solar neutrino experiments combined with the seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses suggest that m{sub {nu}{sub e}} {approximately}10{sup {minus}8} electron volts, m{sub {nu}{sub {mu}}} {approximately}10{sup {minus}3} electron volts, and m{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}} {approximately}10 electron volts, which can be tested in the near future by solar neutrino and accelerator experiments.

Massive neutrinos are expected in most grand unified theories that attempt to unify the strong and electroweak interactions. So far, heroic laboratory experiments have yielded only upper bounds on the masses of the elusive neutrinos. These bounds, however, are not very restrictive and cannot even exclude the possibility that the dark matter in the universe consists of neutrinos. The astrophysical and cosmological bounds on the masses of the muon and tau neutrinos, mv(vmicro) and mv(vtau), which already are much more restrictive than the laboratory bounds, and the laboratory bound on the mass of the electronneutrino, mv(vc), can be improved significantly by future astrophysical and cosmological observations that perhaps will pin down the neutrino masses. Indeed, the recent results from the solar neutrino experiments combined with the seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses suggest that mv(vc) approximately 10(-8) electron volts, mv(vmicro) approximately 10(-3) electron volts, and mv(vtau) approximately 10 electron volts, which can be tested in the near future by solar neutrino and accelerator experiments. PMID:17818280

A very short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with an intense 51Cr neutrino source is currently under construction at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Institute for Nuclear Research RAS (BNO). The experiment, which is based on the existing SAGE experiment, will use an upgraded Gallium-Germanium Neutrino Telescope (GGNT) and an artificial 51Cr neutrino source with activity ˜3 MCi to search for transitions of active neutrinos to sterile states with Δ m 2 ˜1 eV2. The neutrino source will be placed in the center of a liquid Ga metal target that is divided into two concentric zones, internal and external. The average path length of neutrinos in each zone will be the same and the neutrino capture rate will be measured separately in each zone. The oscillation signature, which comes from the ratio of events in the near and far gallium volumes, will be largely free of systematic errors, such as may occur from cross section and source strength uncertainties, and will provide a clean signal of electronneutrino disappearance into a sterile state at baselines of about 0.6 and 2.0 m. The sensitivity to the disappearance of electronneutrinos is expected to be a few percent. Construction of this set of new facilities, including a two-zone tank for irradiation of 50 tons of Ga metal with the intense 51Cr source, as well as additional modules of the GGNT counting and extraction systems, is close to completion. To check the new facilities they will first be used for SAGE solar neutrino measurements.

A measurement of the ratios of the form factors in the semileptonic decay channel D^{ +/-}to K^{0*}e^ {+/-}nu is performed using data collected by the E791 collaboration at the Tagged Photon Spectrometer at Fermilab in a hadroproduction of charm experiment. Charmed events are selected if a secondary vertex of charged tracks is found clearly separated from the primary vertex. Semileptonic events for this particular decay mode are required to have a well identified electron as well as an invariant mass for the (Kpi ) system consistent with the K^* (892) mass. The form factors are extracted by comparing the data to a Monte-Carlo-simulated sample using a continuous maximum-likelihood method to simultaneously fit to four kinematic variables characteristic of this decay mode. The measured values for the form factor ratios are R _2 = 0.32_sp{-0.27}{+0.26} +/- 0.13 and R_{V} = 2.4_sp{-0.37}{+0.39}+/- 0.27..

Precision measurement of the leptonic CP violating phase δ will suffer from the, then surviving, large uncertainty of sin2θ23 of 10–20% in the experimentally interesting region near maximal mixing of θ23. We advocate a new method for determination of both θ23 and δ at the same time using only the νe and ν̄e appearance channels and show that sin2θ23 can be determined automatically with much higher accuracy, approximately a factor of six, than sinδ. In this method, we identify a new degeneracy for the simultaneous determination of θ23 and δ, the θ23 intrinsic degeneracy, which must be resolved in order to achieve precision measurement of these two parameters. Spectral information around the vacuum oscillation maxima is shown to be the best way to resolve this degeneracy.

We present a global analysis of the semileptonic and purely leptonic nonuniversal and flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions in all the known short-baseline neutrino—and antineutrino—electron scattering experiments. The nonstandard effects at the source and at the detector can be more transparent in these experiments because of the negligibly small ratio between the baselines and neutrino energies, which is not enough for the neutrinos to oscillate, and thus can be sensitive to the new physics at both ends. We use data from two electron-neutrino electron scattering experiments and six electron-antineutrino electron scattering experiments, combine them to find the best fits on the nonstandard parameters using the source-only, detector-only analyses, and then find the interplay between the two cases. The bounds obtained in some cases are stronger and new, in some cases comparable to the current ones, and in other cases weaker. For instance, the bound obtained from the interplay between the source and detector nonstandard physics on the nonstandard parameter ɛee u d L at the source is much stronger and is comparable with the indirect bound, but the bounds on the parameters ɛμe u d L and ɛτe u d L are weaker in this study in comparison with the indirect bounds. We also find a global fit on the standard weak mixing angle sin2θW=0.249 ±0.020 with 2% improvement in its precision in comparison with the previous studies.

Neutrinos could be key particles to unravel the nature of the dark matter of the Universe. On the one hand, sterile neutrinos in minimal extensions of the Standard Model are excellent dark matter candidates, producing potentially observable signals in the form of a line in the X-ray sky. On the other hand, the annihilation or the decay of dark matter particles produces, in many plausible dark matter scenarios, a neutrino flux that could be detected at neutrino telescopes, thus providing non-gravitational evidence for dark matter. More conservatively, the non-observation of a significant excess in the neutrino fluxes with respect to the expected astrophysical backgrounds can be used to constrain dark matter properties, such as the self-annihilation cross section, the scattering cross section with nucleons and the lifetime.

The influence of nuclear effects on the transverse momentum (p{sub T}) of neutrino-produced hadrons is investigated using the data obtained with the SKAT propane-freon bubble chamber irradiated in the neutrino beam (with E{sub {nu}} = 3-30 GeV) at the Serpukhov accelerator. It has been observed that the nuclear effects cause an enhancement of

of hadrons produced in the target fragmentation region at low invariant mass of the hadronic system (2 < W < 4 GeV) and at low energies transferred to the hadrons (2 < {nu} < 9 GeV). At higher W and {nu}, no influence of nuclear effects on

is observed. Measurement results are compared with predictions of a simple model, incorporating secondary intranuclear interactions of hadrons, which qualitatively reproduces the main features of the data.

We evaluate and discuss the impact of meson-exchange currents (MECs) on charged-current quasielastic neutrino cross sections. We consider the nuclear transverse response arising from two-particle two-hole states excited by the action of electromagnetic, purely isovector meson-exchange currents in a fully relativistic framework based on the work by the Torino Collaboration [A. D. Pace, M. Nardi, W. M. Alberico, T. W. Donnelly, and A. Molinari, Nucl. Phys. A726, 303 (2003)]. An accurate parametrization of this MEC response as a function of the momentum and energy transfers involved is presented. Results of neutrino-nucleus cross sections using this MEC parametrization together with a recent scaling approach for the one-particle one-hole contributions (named SuSAv2) are compared with experimental data.

We investigate neutrino-nucleus collisions at intermediate energies incorporating quasielastic scattering and the excitation of 13 resonances as elementary processes, taking into account medium effects such as Fermi motion, Pauli blocking, mean-field potentials and in-medium spectral functions. A coupled-channel treatment of final state interactions is achieved with the GiBUU transport model. Results for inclusive reactions, neutrino- and electron-induced, as well as for pion production and nucleon knockout are presented.

Mikheyev and Smirnov have shown that the interactions of neutrinos with matter can result in the conversion of electronneutrinos produced in the center of the sun to muon neutrinos. Bethe has exploited this and has pointed out that the solar-neutrino puzzle can be resolved if the mass difference squared of the two neutrinos is m/sub 2//sup 2/ - m /sub 1//sup 2/ approx. = 6 x 10/sup -5/ eV/sup 2/, and the mixing angle satisfies sin theta/sub v/ > 0.0065. We discuss a qualitatively different solution to the solar-neutrino puzzle which requires 1.0 x 10/sup -8/ < (m/sub 2//sup 2/ - m/sub 1//sup 2/) (sin/sup 2/ 2theta/sub v//cos 2theta/sub v/) < 6.1 x 10/sup -8/ eV/sup 2/. Our solutions result in a much smaller flux of neutrinos from the p - p process than predicted by standard solar models, while Bethe's solution results in a flux of neutrinos from the p - process that is about the same as standard solar models.

The CMS e+e-jj events of invariant mass near 2 TeV are consistent with a W' boson decaying into an electron and a right-handed neutrino whose TeV-scale mass is of the Dirac type. We show that the Dirac partner of the right-handed electron-neutrino can be the right-handed tau-neutrino. Furthermore, a prediction of this model is that the sum of the τ+e+jj and τ-e-jj signal cross sections equals twice that for e+e-jj. The Standard Model neutrinos acquire Majorana masses and mixings compatible with neutrino oscillation data.

The CMS e+e-jj events of invariant mass near 2 TeV are consistent with a W' boson decaying into an electron and a right-handed neutrino whose TeV-scale mass is of the Dirac type. We show that the Dirac partner of the right-handed electron-neutrino can be the right-handed tau-neutrino. Furthermore, a prediction of this model is that the sum of the τ+e+jj and τ-e-jj signal cross sections equals twice that for e+e-jj. The Standard Model neutrinos acquire Majorana masses and mixings compatible with neutrino oscillation data.

The interaction of the electronicneutrino with nuclei C-12, O-16, Ci-37, Fe-56, Ga-71, and Br81 is considered for neutrino energy up to 300 MeV. The nuclei are described by single-particle shell-model with Woods-Saxon potential. The parameters of the potential are specially chosen for each nuclei in order to describe correctly the upper occupied single particle levels of the nuclei. The cross sections for inelastic and elastic interactions of neutrino with nuclei are calculated within this model, taking into account charged and neutral current of weak interaction. The neutral currents are described by Weinberg theory. The results of the cross section calculations are presented and the comparisons with the results of the other authors are given. The possibilities of improvement of the exactness of obtained results are discussed. Some details of the calculations are included.

Neutrinos are fundamental particles ubiquitous in the Universe and whose properties remain elusive despite more than 50 years of intense research activity. This review illustrates the importance of solar neutrinos in astrophysics, nuclear physics and particle physics. After a description of the historical context, we remind the reader of the noticeable properties of these particles and of the stakes of the solar neutrino puzzle. The standard solar model triggered persistent efforts in fundamental physics to predict the solar neutrino fluxes, and its constantly evolving predictions have been regularly compared with the detected neutrino signals. Anticipating that this standard model could not reproduce the internal solar dynamics, a seismic solar model was developed which enriched theoretical neutrino flux predictions with in situ observation of acoustic and gravity waves propagating in the Sun. This seismic model contributed to the stabilization of the neutrino flux predictions. This review recalls the main historical steps, from the pioneering Homestake mine experiment and the GALLEX-SAGE experiments capturing the first proton-proton neutrinos. It emphasizes the importance of the SuperKamiokande and SNO detectors. Both experiments demonstrated that the solar-emitted electronneutrinos are partially transformed into other neutrino flavors before reaching the Earth. This sustained experimental effort opens the door to neutrino astronomy, with long-base lines and underground detectors. The success of BOREXINO in detecting the 7Be neutrino signal alone instills confidence in physicists' ability to detect each neutrino source separately. It justifies the building of a new generation of detectors to measure the entire solar neutrino spectrum in greater detail, as well as supernova neutrinos. A coherent picture has emerged from neutrino physics and helioseismology. Today, new paradigms take shape in these two fields: neutrinos are massive particles, but their masses are

The models of exploding stars-supernovae-do not explode. This dissertation investigates the transfer of energy from the interior to the outer layers in such stars to try to understand what is missing in these models that would solve the supernova problem. Hydrodynamic instabilities and aspects in the microphysics of the neutrino transport in postcollapsed stellar matter are considered. In Chapter II we derive criteria for the presence of doubly diffusive instabilities believed to be essential for producing a supernova explosion. Contrary to the widely accepted view, we find that the core, if unstable, is unstable to semiconvection, rather than to neutron fingers. A critical value for the lepton fraction, Yl, is found for a given density and entropy, below which the stellar core is completely stable to instabilities. A considerable fraction of the stellar core is found to lie below the critical Yl. As the core evolves this fraction quickly encompasses the entire core. Thus doubly diffusive instabilities of any kind are unlikely to play a role in the supernova explosion mechanism. A strong magnetic field may modify the neutrino-nucleon absorption rates which are critical for shock reheating. In Chapter III we derive the cross section of neutrino absorption on neutrons in the presence of a strong magnetic field. We calculate values for the neutrino inverse mean free path and numerically compare them to the values in the non magnetic case. We find that they exhibit an oscillatory behavior, with huge peaks present due to discontinuities in the density of state. We conclude that the presence of a strong magnetic field does not yield a dramatic reduction in the inverse mean free paths which would be necessary to substantially increase the neutrino luminosity and revive the shock. Neutrino-neutrinoscattering in the vicinity of the neutrino sphere may modify the neutrino luminosities and therefore affect shock reheating. In the last Chapter we calculate the neutrino-neutrino

The results of a neutrino experiment that involved 24.12 yr of live time of observation of muons from the lower Earth's hemisphere with the aid of the Baksan Underground Scintillator Telescope are presented. In the problem of searches for a signal from the annihilation of dark matter in the Sun, an upper limit on the cross section for the elastic scattering of a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) on a nucleon was obtained at a 90% confidence level from an analysis of data accumulated within 21.15 yr of live time of observation. A neutralino in a nonminimal supersymmetric theory was considered for a WIMP. The best limit at the Baksan Underground Scintillator Telescope on the cross section for spin-dependent neutralino interactionwith a proton corresponds to 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} pb for the neutralino mass of 210 GeV/c{sup 2}. This limit is three orders of magnitude more stringent than similar limits obtained in experiments that detected directly WIMP scattering on target nuclei.

In this paper we discuss opportunities for a neutrino program at the Spallation Neutrons Source (SNS) being commissioning at ORNL. Possible investigations can include study of neutrino-nuclear cross sections in the energy rage important for supernova dynamics and neutrino nucleosynthesis, search for neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering, and various tests of the standard model of electro-weak interactions.

The prediction and verification of the neutrino are reviewed, together with the V A theory for its interactions (particularly the difficulties with the apparent existence of two neutrinos and the high energy cross section). The Brookhaven experiment confirming the existence of two neutrinos and the cross section increase with momentum is then described, and future neutrino experiments are considered. (D.C.W.)

The MINOS experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in the the NuMI beamline at Fermilab, USA. Using a near detector at 1 km distance from the neutrino production target, and a far detector at 735 km from the target, it is designed primarily to measure the disappearance of muon neutrinos. This thesis presents an analysis using MINOS data of the possibility of oscil- lation of the neutrinos in the NuMI beam to a hypothetical sterile flavour, which would have no Standard Model couplings. Such oscillations would result in a deficit in the neutral current interaction rate in the MINOS far detector relative to the expectation derived from the near detector data. The method used to identify neutral current and charged current events in the MINOS detectors is described and a new method of predicting and fitting the far detector spectrum presented, along with the effects of systematic uncertainties on the sterile neutrino oscillation analysis. Using this analysis, the fraction fs of the disappearing neutrinos that go to steriles is constrained to be below 0.15 at the 90% confidence level in the absence of electronneutrino appearance in the NuMI beam. With electron appearance at the CHOOZ limit, fs < 0.41 at 90% C.L.

We report a study of νμ charged-current quasielastic events in the segmented scintillator inner tracker of the MINERvA experiment running in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. The events were selected by requiring a μ- and low calorimetric recoil energy separated from the interaction vertex. We measure the flux-averaged differential cross section, dσ/dQ2, and study the low energy particle content of the final state. Deviations are found between the measured dσ/dQ2 and the expectations of a model of independent nucleons in a relativistic Fermi gas. We also observe an excess of energy near the vertex consistent with multiple protons in the final state.

We report a study of νμ charged-current quasielastic events in the segmented scintillator inner tracker of the MINERvA experiment running in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. The events were selected by requiring a μ⁻ and low calorimetric recoil energy separated from the interaction vertex. We measure the flux-averaged differential cross section, dσ/dQ², and study the low energy particle content of the final state. Deviations are found between the measured dσ/dQ² and the expectations of a model of independent nucleons in a relativistic Fermi gas. We also observe an excess of energy near the vertex consistent with multiple protons inmore » the final state.« less

Experimental investigations of neutrino properties, using neutrino beams generated at accelerators facilities, necessitate a detailed and precise knowledge of neutrinonucleus reaction mechanisms. In the energy region of nuclear quasi-elastic scattering, pion-production reactions constitute an important background process. A theoretical understanding of these processes is then required in order to correctly determine the produced neutrino energy spectrum. In the first stage of our research project, we study neutrino induced pion-production off deuterons. The choice of the deuteron minimizes the complications of the nuclear dynamics associated with larger nuclear systems. We evaluate the pion-production reaction near threshold using heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory.

There are several new features in the production, oscillations, and detection of the atmospheric neutrinos of low energies E < or approx. 100 MeV. The flavor ratio r of muon to electronneutrino fluxes is substantially smaller than 2 and decreases with energy, a significant part of events is due to the decay of invisible muons at rest, etc. Oscillations in a two-layer medium (atmosphere-Earth) should be taken into account. We derive analytical and semianalytical expressions for the oscillation probabilities of these 'sub-sub-GeV' neutrinos. The energy spectra of the e-like events in water Cherenkov detectors are computed, and the dependence of the spectra on the 2-3 mixing angle {theta}{sub 23}, the 1-3 mixing, and the CP-violation phase are studied. We find that variations of {theta}{sub 23} in the presently allowed region change the number of e-like events by about 15%-20% as well as lead to distortion of the energy spectrum. The 1-3 mixing and CP violation can lead to {approx}10% effects. Detailed study of the sub-sub-GeV neutrinos will be possible in future megaton-scale detectors.

MINERνA is a neutrinoscattering experiment that uses Fermilab’s NuMI beamline. Its goal is to measure cross-sections for neutrinoscattering from different nuclei. Precise knowledge of these cross-sections is vital for current and future neutrino oscillation experiments. In order to measure these values to a high degree of accuracy, it is essential that the detector be carefully calibrated. Here, we describe in-situ calibration and cross-checks.

There is now substantial evidence that the proper description of neutrino involves two representations related by the 3 x 3 PMNS matrix characterized by either distinct mass or flavor. The parameters of this mixing matrix, three angles and a phase, as well as the mass differences between the three mass eigenstates must be determined experimentally. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search experiment is designed to study the flavor composition of a beam of muon neutrinos as it travels between the Near Detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory at 1 km from the target, and the Far Detector in the Soudan iron mine in Minnesota at 735 km from the target. From the comparison of reconstructed neutrino energy spectra at the near and far location, precise measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters from muon neutrino disappearance and electronneutrino appearance are expected. It is very important to know the neutrino flux coming from the source in order to achieve the main goal of the MINOS experiment: precise measurements of the atmospheric mass splitting |Δm232|, sin2 θ23. The goal of my thesis is to accurately predict the neutrino flux for the MINOS experiment and measure the neutrino mixing angle and atmospheric mass splitting.

The electronic density in the Sun’s inner core is inferred from the B8, Be7 and pep neutrino flux measurements of the Super-Kamiokande, SNO and Borexino experiments. We have developed a new method in which we use the KamLAND detector determinations of the neutrino fundamental oscillation parameters: the mass difference and the vacuum oscillation angle. Our results suggest that the solar electronic density in the Sun’s inner core (for a radius smaller than 10% of the solar radius) is well above the current prediction of the standard solar model, and by as much as 25%. A potential confirmation of these preliminary findings can be achieved when neutrino detectors are able to reduce the error of the electron-neutrino survival probability by a factor of 15.

We explore possible CP violating effects, coming from the Dirac phase of the Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata-Pontecorvo matrix, on the neutrino degeneracy parameters, at the epoch of Big-Bang nucleosynthesis. We first demonstrate the conditions under which such effects can arise. In particular it requires that the initial muon and tau neutrino degeneracy parameters ξ differ. Then we solve numerically the kinetic equations for the three flavor neutrino density matrix with the goal of quantifying the impact of the Dirac phase on the electronneutrino degeneracy parameter ξν_e. The calculations include the vacuum term, the coupling to matter, the νν interaction and the collisions. Effects on ξν_e up to almost 1% and on Y of about 0.1% are found, depending on the initial conditions.

One expects three Cosmic Backgrounds: (1) The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) originated 380000 years after the Big Bang (BB). (2) The Neutrino Background decoupled about one second after the BB, while (3) the Cosmic Gravitational Wave Background created by the inflationary expansion decoupled directly after the BB. Only the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) has been detected and is well studied. Its spectrum follows Planck's black body radiation formula and shows a remarkable constant temperature of T0γ ≈ 2.7 K independent of the direction. The present photon density is about 370 photons per cm3. The size of the hot spots, which deviates only in the fifth decimal of the temperature from the average value, tells us, that the universe is flat. About 380 000 years after the Big Bang at a temperature of T0γ = 3000 K already in the matter dominated era the electrons combine with the protons and 4He and the photons move freely in the neutral universe and form the CMB. So the temperature and distribution of the photons give us information of the universe 380 000 years after the Big Bang. The Cosmic Neutrino Background (CνB) decoupled from matter already one second after the BB at a temperature of about 1010 K. Today their temperature is ~ 1.95 K and the average density is 56 electron-neutrinos and the total density of all neutrinos about 336 per cm3. Measurement of these neutrinos is an extremely challenging experimental problem which can hardly be solved with the present technologies. On the other hand it represents a tempting opportunity to check one of the key elements of the Big Bang Cosmology and to probe the early stages of the universe. The search for the CνB with the induced beta decay νe+3H → 3He + e- using KATRIN (KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment) is the topic of this contribution.

Previous work on neutrino emission from proto-neutron stars which employed full solutions of the Boltzmann equation showed that the average energies of emitted electronneutrinos and antineutrinos are closer to one another than predicted by older, more approximate work. This in turn implied that the neutrino driven wind is proton rich during its entire life, precluding r-process nucleosynthesis and the synthesis of Sr, Y, and Zr. This work relied on charged-current neutrino interaction rates that are appropriate for a free nucleon gas. Here, it is shown in detail that the inclusion of the nucleon potential energies and collisional broadening of the response significantly alters this conclusion. Isovector interactions, which give rise to the nuclear symmetry energy, produce a difference between the neutron and proton single-particle energies ΔU=Un-Up and alter the kinematics of the charged-current reactions. In neutron-rich matter, and for a given neutrino/antineutrino energy, the rate for νe+n→e-+p is enhanced while ν¯e+p→n+e+ is suppressed because the Q value for these reactions is altered by ±ΔU, respectively. In the neutrino decoupling region, collisional broadening acts to enhance both νe and ν¯e cross sections, and random-phase approximation (RPA) corrections decrease the νe cross section and increase the ν¯e cross section, but mean field shifts have a larger effect. Therefore, electronneutrinos decouple at lower temperature than when the nucleons are assumed to be free and have lower average energies. The change is large enough to allow for a reasonable period of time when the neutrino driven wind is predicted to be neutron rich. It is also shown that the electron fraction in the wind is influenced by the nuclear symmetry energy.

Over the last decade there has been significant progress in developing the concepts and technologies needed to produce, capture and accelerate O(10{sup 21}) muons/year. This prepares the way for a Neutrino Factory (NF) in which high energy muons decay within the straight sections of a storage ring to produce a beam of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. The NF concept was proposed in 1997 at a time when the discovery that the three known types of neutrino ({nu}{sub e}, {nu}{sub {mu}}, {nu}{sub {tau}}) can change their flavor as they propagate through space (neutrino oscillations) was providing a first glimpse of physics beyond the Standard Model. This development prepares the way for a new type of neutrino source: a Neutrino Factory. This article reviews the motivation, design and R&D for a Neutrino Factory.

Thanks to compelling evidence that neutrinos can change flavor, we now know that they have nonzero masses, and that leptons mix. In these lectures, we explain the physics of neutrino flavor change, both in vacuum and in matter. Then, we describe what the flavor-change data have taught us about neutrinos. Finally, we consider some of the questions raised by the discovery of neutrino mass, explaining why these questions are so interesting, and how they might be answered experimentally.

Recent measurements of large θ13 by the reactor experiments have opened up the possibility of determining the neutrino mass hierarchy, i.e., the sign of the mass squared splitting Δm312, the CP-violating phase δCP, and the octant of θ23. In light of this result, we study the performance of a low energy neutrino factory (LENF) for determination of the mass hierarchy. In particular, we explore the potential of the νe and ν¯e disappearance channels at LENF to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy, that is free from the uncertainties arising from the unknown δCP phase and the θ23 octant. We find that using these electronneutrino (antineutrino) disappearance channels with a standard LENF, it is possible to exclude the wrong hierarchy at 5σ with only 2 years of running, with a muon beam energy above ˜3.5(5.0-10.0) GeV and baseline longer than ˜1400(1900-2400) km for an optimistic (conservative) systematic error of 2% (5%).

The neutrino was postulated by Wolfgang Pauli in the early 1930s, but could only be detected for the first time in the 1950s. Ever since scientists all around the world have worked on the detection and understanding of this particle which so scarcely interacts with matter. Depending on the origin and nature of the neutrino, various types of experiments have been developed and operated. In this entry, we will review neutrino detectors in terms of neutrino energy and associated detection technique as well as the scientific outcome of some selected examples. After a brief historical introduction, the detection of low-energy neutrinos originating from nuclear reactors or from the Earth is used to illustrate the principles and difficulties which are encountered in detecting neutrinos. In the context of solar neutrino spectroscopy, where the neutrino is used as a probe for astrophysics, three different types of neutrino detectors are presented - water Čerenkov, radiochemical, and liquid-scintillator detectors. Moving to higher neutrino energies, we discuss neutrinos produced by astrophysical sources and from accelerators. The entry concludes with an overview of a selection of future neutrino experiments and their scientific goals.

Over the last decade there has been significant progress in developing the concepts and technologies needed to produce, capture and accelerate O(1021) muons/year. This development prepares the way for a new type of neutrino source : a Neutrino Factory. This article reviews the motivation, design and R&D for a Neutrino Factory.

There is nowadays a significant progress in understanding the neutrino properties. The results of the neutrino oscillation experiments have convincingly showed that neutrinos have mass and oscillate, in contradiction with the Standard Model (SM) assumptions, and these are the first evidences of beyond SM physics. However, fundamental properties of the neutrinos like their absolute mass, their character (are they Dirac or Majorana particles?), their mass hierarchy, the number of neutrino flavors, etc., still remain unknown. In this context there is an increased interest in the study of the lepton number violating (LNV) processes, since they could complete our understanding on the neutrino properties. Since recently, the neutrinoless double beta decay was considered the only process able to distinguish between Dirac or Majorana neutrinos and to give a hint on the absolute mass of the electronneutrino. At present, the increased luminosity of the LHC experiments makes feasible the search of LNV processes at high energy as well. In this lecture I will make a brief review on our present knowledge of the neutrino properties, on the present status of the double-beta decay studies and on the first attempts to search LNV processes at LHC.

Scintillation light is used in liquid argon (LAr) neutrino detectors to provide a trigger signal, veto information against cosmic rays, and absolute event timing. In this work, we discuss additional opportunities offered by detectors with enhanced sensitivity to scintillation light, that is with light collection efficiencies of about 10-3. We focus on two key detector performance indicators for neutrino oscillation physics: calorimetric neutrino energy reconstruction and neutrino/antineutrino separation in a non-magnetized detector. Our results are based on detailed simulations, with neutrino interactions modelled according to the GENIE event generator, while the charge and light responses of a large LAr ideal detector are described by the Geant4 and NEST simulation tools. A neutrino energy resolution as good as 3.3% RMS for 4 GeV electronneutrino charged-current interactions can in principle be obtained in a large detector of this type, by using both charge and light information. By exploiting muon capture in argon and scintillation light information to veto muon decay electrons, we also obtain muon neutrino identification efficiencies of about 50%, and muon antineutrino misidentification rates at the few percent level, for few-GeV neutrino interactions that are fully contained. We argue that the construction of large LAr detectors with sufficiently high light collection efficiencies is in principle possible.

The processing of the IceCube experiment data obtained during 988 days (2010-2013) revealed 37 high-energy neutrino-induced events with deposited energies of 30 TeV - 2 PeV. The hypothesis of an astrophysical origin of these neutrinos is confirmed at the statistical confidence level of 5.7σ. To identify reliably the neutrino events, a thorough calculation of the atmospheric neutrino background is required. In this work we calculate the atmospheric neutrino spectra in the energy range of 100 GeV - 10 PeV with usage of several hadronic models and a few parametrizations of cosmic ray spectra supported by experimental data which take into account the knee. It is shown that rare decays of short-lived neutral ka ns K_S^0 contribute more than a third of the total ν_e +(ν)_e flux at the energies above 100 eV. The account for kaons production in pion-nucleus collisions increases the ν_e +(ν)_e flux by 5-7% in the energy range of 102-104 GeV. Calculated neutrino spectra agree on the whole with the measurement data. The neutrino flavor ratio extracted from the IceCube data possibly indicates that the conventional atmospheric electronneutrino flux obtained in the IceCube experiment contains an admixture of the astrophysical neutrinos in the range of 20-50 TeV.

The Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies are the pillars of modern cosmology. It has recently been suggested that axion which is a dark matter candidate in the framework of the standard model could condensate in the early universe and induce photon cooling before the epoch of the photon last scattering. Although this may render a solution to the overproduction problem of primordial 7Li abundance, there arises another serious difficulty of overproducing D abundance. We propose a hybrid dark matter model with both axions and relic supersymmetric (SUSY) particles to solve both overproduction problems of the primordial D and 7Li abundances simultaneously. The BBN also serves to constrain the nature of neutrinos. Considering non-thermal photons produced in the decay of the heavy sterile neutrinos due to the magnetic moment, we explore the cosmological constraint on the strength of neutrino magnetic moment consistent with the observed light element abundances. Core-collapse supernovae eject huge flux of energetic neutrinos which affect explosive nucleosynthesis of rare isotopes like 7Li, 11B, 92Nb, 138La and 180Ta and r-process elements. Several isotopes depend strongly on the neutrino flavor oscillation due to the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect. Combining the recent experimental constraints on θ13 with predicted and observed supernova-produced abundance ratio 11B/7Li encapsulated in the presolar grains from the Murchison meteorite, we show a marginal preference for an inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. We also discuss supernova relic neutrinos (SRN) that may indicate the softness of the equation of state (EoS) of nuclear matter and adiabatic conditions of the neutrino oscillation.

The Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies are the pillars of modern cosmology. It has recently been suggested that axion which is a dark matter candidate in the framework of the standard model could condensate in the early universe and induce photon cooling before the epoch of the photon last scattering. Although this may render a solution to the overproduction problem of primordial {sup 7}Li abundance, there arises another serious difficulty of overproducing D abundance. We propose a hybrid dark matter model with both axions and relic supersymmetric (SUSY) particles to solve both overproduction problems of the primordial D and {sup 7}Li abundances simultaneously. The BBN also serves to constrain the nature of neutrinos. Considering non-thermal photons produced in the decay of the heavy sterile neutrinos due to the magnetic moment, we explore the cosmological constraint on the strength of neutrino magnetic moment consistent with the observed light element abundances. Core-collapse supernovae eject huge flux of energetic neutrinos which affect explosive nucleosynthesis of rare isotopes like {sup 7}Li, {sup 11}B, {sup 92}Nb, {sup 138}La and {sup 180}Ta and r-process elements. Several isotopes depend strongly on the neutrino flavor oscillation due to the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect. Combining the recent experimental constraints on θ{sub 13} with predicted and observed supernova-produced abundance ratio {sup 11}B/{sup 7}Li encapsulated in the presolar grains from the Murchison meteorite, we show a marginal preference for an inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. We also discuss supernova relic neutrinos (SRN) that may indicate the softness of the equation of state (EoS) of nuclear matter and adiabatic conditions of the neutrino oscillation.

Several anomalies recorded in short-baseline neutrino experiments suggest the possibility that the standard 3-flavor framework may be incomplete and point towards a manifestation of new physics. Light sterile neutrinos provide a credible solution to these puzzling results. Here, we present a concise review of the status of the neutrino oscillations within the 3+1 scheme, the minimal extension of the standard 3-flavor framework endowed with one sterile neutrino species. We emphasize the potential role of LBL experiments in the searches of CP violation related to sterile neutrinos and their complementarity with the SBL experiments.

Solar neutrino studies triggered and largely motivated the major developments in neutrino physics in the last 50 years. The theory of neutrino propagation in different media with matter and fields has been elaborated. It includes oscillations in vacuum and matter, resonance flavor conversion and resonance oscillations, spin and spin-flavor precession, etc. LMA MSW has been established as the true solution of the solar neutrino problem. Parameters θ_{12} and Δ m 2 21 have been measured; θ_{13} extracted from the solar data is in agreement with results from reactor experiments. Solar neutrino studies provide a sensitive way to test theory of neutrino oscillations and conversion. Characterized by long baseline, huge fluxes and low energies they are a powerful set-up to search for new physics beyond the standard 3 ν paradigm: new neutrino states, sterile neutrinos, non-standard neutrino interactions, effects of violation of fundamental symmetries, new dynamics of neutrino propagation, probes of space and time. These searches allow us to get stringent, and in some cases unique bounds on new physics. We summarize the results on physics of propagation, neutrino properties and physics beyond the standard model obtained from studies of solar neutrinos.

The collapse of a 1.17 solar mass iron core is numerically followed through infall to 100 ms past core bounce, and the emergent neutrino spectra during each phase are highlighted. It is found that, even with fairly optimistic conditions for producing a strong, sustained core-bounce shock wave, the prompt shock stalls within 9 ms of core bounce at a radius of less than 250 km. It appears that a radical change in the character of the progenitor core or in our understanding of the relevant physics of stellar collapse is needed before the direct mechanism for type II supernovae can become viable. Expanding the number of neutrino types from one to six magnifies the debilitating effect of neutrino loss on shock propagation. At shock breakout, prompt bursts of all neutrino types are observed. The luminosities of the nonelectron types show a sudden turn-on in luminosity while that of the electronneutrinos steadily increases throughout infall as a result of accelerating electron capture.

Double beta decay has long been recognized as a useful avenue for the study of electronneutrinos, especially the neutrino mass and its fundamental nature (Majorana or Dirac). Recent neutrino oscillation experiments have provided compelling evidence that the neutrino has mass. The detection of the neutrinoless mode of double beta decay would finally set a lower limit on the mass of the electronneutrino, as well as prove that the neutrino is a Majorana particle (with opposite spin, it is its own anti-particle). The Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) project attempts to detect neutrinoless double beta decay using {sup 136}Xe that decays by this process to {sup 136}Ba{sup 2} + e{sup -} + e{sup -}. Perhaps one of the most significant characteristics of this project is the reduction of the background through the identification of the Barium ions for each individual event using laser fluorescence techniques. This project also proposes to collect scintillation light in addition to the ionization electrons in order to further improve energy resolution. Current work at SLAC includes the development of a purification system for xenon, as well as tests for the capture and release of single ions using an electrostatic probe.

Although less than 1% of solar energy is generated in the CNO cycle, it plays a critical role in astrophysics, since this cycle is the primary source of energy in certain more massive stars and at later stages of evolution of solar-type stars. Electronneutrinos are produced in the CNO cycle reactions. These neutrinos may be detected by terrestrial neutrino detectors. Various solar models with different abundances of elements heavier than helium predict different CNO neutrino fluxes. A direct measurement of the CNO neutrino flux could help distinguish between these models and solve several other astrophysical problems. No CNO neutrinos have been detected directly thus far, and the best upper limit on their flux was set in the Borexino experiment. The work on reducing the background in the region of energies of CNO neutrinos (up to 1.74 MeV) and developing novel data analysis methods is presently under way. These efforts may help detect the CNO neutrino flux in the Borexino experiment at the level predicted by solar models.

This work estimates the probability of μ to e neutrino oscillation with two sterile neutrinos using a 5×5 U-matrix, an extension of the previous estimate with one sterile neutrino and a 4×4 U-matrix. The sterile neutrino-active neutrino mass differences and the mixing angles of the two sterile neutrinos with the three active neutrinos are taken from recent publications, and the oscillation probability for one sterile neutrino is compared to the previous estimate.

The prospect of studying the solar energy generation process directly by observing the solar neutrino radiation has been discussed for many years. The main difficulty with this approach is that the sun emits predominantly low energy neutrinos, and detectors for observing low fluxes of low energy neutrinos have not been developed. However, experimental techniques have been developed for observing neutrinos, and one can foresee that in the near future these techniques will be improved sufficiently in sensitivity to observe solar neutrinos. At the present several experiments are being designed and hopefully will be operating in the next year or so. We will discuss an experiment based upon a neutrino capture reaction that is the inverse of the electron-capture radioactive decay of argon-37. The method depends upon exposing a large volume of a chlorine compound, removing the radioactive argon-37 and observing the characteristic decay in a small low-level counter.

In view of the observation by IceCube of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, it is important to quantify the uncertainty in the background of atmospheric neutrinos. There are two sources of uncertainty, the imperfect knowledge of the spectrum and composition of the primary cosmic rays that produce the neutrinos and the limited understanding of hadron production, including charm, at high energy. This paper is an overview of both aspects.

Atmospheric neutrinos are decay products of pions and kaons (and of their decay products muons) produced by nuclear interactions of cosmic rays with air nuclei. Though their flux is not known well, only within 20 %, physics quantities that are independent of the flux uncertainty exist. The ratio of the number of muon neutrinos to the number of electronneutrinos is estimated to be accurate within 5 %. The other quantity is the shape of the zenith-angle distribution. Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande are water Cherenkov detectors with 3,000 ton and 50,000 ton pure water, respectively. Kamiokande was operational in 1983 - 1996, and Super-K in 1996 - 2001 and 2003 - in future. We had already noted in 1988 that the observed μ/e ratio, which represented ν_mu/ν_e, was smaller by about 40 %. Later in 1994 we noted that the zenith angle distribution of muon neutrinos was strongly distorted, namely much fewer muons observed in the upward direction, while downward-going muons were what we expected. Electrons were quite normal. In 1996 Super-Kamiokande was ready. Its fiducial volume is 22.5 kton, much larger than Kamiokande's 1.04 kton. In 1998 based on 25.5 kton years of data we presented convincing results on the small μ/e ratio which was caused by fewer number of muons in the upward direction. The essential feature of the observed anomaly was that the disappearance of muon neutrinos depended strongly on their path length and on their energies. Electrons showed no anomaly within the experimental limit. These results were quantitatively and almost uniquely explained by oscillation of muon neutrinos to tau neutrinos, thus evidence for the finite but tiny mass of neutrinos.

that the mixing parameters for the three Standard Model neutrino flavors are well known, some implications of neutrino interactions for flavor oscillations are not well understood. Neutrinos can interact with one another in a similar way to how neutrinos interact with normal matter. Neutrino-neutrino forward scattering can lead to a flavor swap for the propagating neutrino, or the propagating neutrino can retain its original flavor. These interactions contribute an effective potential to the Hamiltonian describing the flavor evolution which depends on a background neutrino density. In normal matter the neutrino density is very low which allows for neutrino-neutrino interactions to be ignored, however these interactions can dominate over vacuum and normal matter interactions in very dense environments such as core-collapse supernovae and early universe scenarios. Neutrino-neutrino interactions give rise to terms quadratic in neutrino densities in the equations of motion, and can give rise to what is called collective oscillations resulting from interference with vacuum and normal matter effects. The non-linearity has made the problem of solving for collective oscillations analytically intractable without simplifying assumptions, and has made this a problem relegated to supercomputer simulations. This dissertation is concerned with analytic methods for solving the equations of motion for core-collapse neutrino propagation. It will be shown here that, by keeping only nunu-interactions at initial distances outward from the supernova core, it is possible to solve the equations of motion by factorizing vacuum oscillations and the effects of nunu-interactions. Furthermore, it will be shown how using this factorization scheme it is possible to predict where flavor oscillations become unstable. This is an important development because it can allow one to predict the neutrino flux in Earth experiments from core-collapse supernovae, while at the same time gaining an understanding

Next-generation long-baseline electronneutrino appearance experiments will seek to discover C P violation, determine the mass hierarchy and resolve the θ23 octant. In light of the recent precision measurements of θ13, we consider the sensitivity of these measurements in a study to determine the optimal baseline, including practical considerations regarding beam and detector performance. We conclude that a detector at a baseline of at least 1000 km in a wide-band muon neutrino beam is the optimal configuration.

We investigate the effects of nonstandard four-fermion neutrino-neutrino interactions on the flavor evolution of dense neutrino gases. We find that in the regions where the neutrino-neutrino refractive index leads to collective flavor oscillations, the presence of new neutrino interactions can produce flavor equilibration in both normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. In realistic supernova environments, these effects are significant if the nonstandard neutrino-neutrino interaction strength is comparable to the one expected in the standard case, dominating the ordinary matter potential. However, very small nonstandard neutrino-neutrino couplings are enough to trigger the usual collective neutrino flavor transformations in the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, even if the mixing angle vanishes exactly.

Current knowledge and proposed experiments in the field of neutrino astronomy are reviewed, with particular emphasis on expected sources and existing and proposed detectors for intermediate-energy (10 to 50 MeV) and ultrahigh energy (greater than 10 GeV) neutrinos. Following a brief discussion of the counting rate obtained in the solar neutrino experiment of Davis (1978) and possible statistical sources for the discrepancy between the expected and observed rates, consideration is given to the physics of neutrino ejection in stellar gravitational collapse and sources of high-energy proton collisions giving rise to ultrahigh energy neutrinos. The capabilities of operating Cerenkov detectors at the Homestake Gold Mine, the Mt. Blanc Tunnel and in the Soviet Caucasus are considered in relation to the detection of gravitational collapse in the center of the galaxy, and it is pointed out that neutrino detectors offer a more reliable means of detecting collapses in the Galaxy than do gravitational wave detectors. The possibility of using Cerenkov detectors for ultrahigh energy neutrino detection is also indicated, and applications of large neutrino detectors such as the proposed DUMAND array to measure the lifetime of the proton are discussed.

Neutrino astrophysics offers a new possibility to observe our Universe: high-energy neutrinos, produced by the most energetic phenomena in our Galaxy and in the Universe, carry complementary (if not exclusive) information about the cosmos: this young discipline extends in fact the conventional astronomy beyond the usual electromagnetic probe. The weak interaction of neutrinos with matter allows them to escape from the core of astrophysical objects and in this sense they represent a complementary messenger with respect to photons. However, their detection on Earth due to the small interaction cross section requires a large target mass. The aim of this article is to review the scientific motivations of the high-energy neutrino astrophysics, the detection principles together with the description of a running apparatus, the experiment ANTARES, the performance of this detector with some results, and the presentation of other neutrino telescope projects.

The excitement about neutrinos is all about mass. Recent experiments have established that neutrino have mass and that the familiar weak interaction states ν_e, ν_μ, and ν_τ are not the states the quantum states with definite mass. These new discoveries require a major reassessment of the role of neutrinos in the universe and the first reformulation of the Standard Model of particle physics since the discovery of the third generation of quarks and leptons. Neutrino experiments are poised to answer many of the new questions raised by the recent discoveries. I will review the current status of the field and discuss what experiment is teaching us about neutrino mass and mixing.

Atmospheric neutrinos are produced when the primary cosmic ray beam hits the atmosphere and initiates atmospheric cascades. Secondary mesons decay and give rise to neutrinos. The neutrino production was calculated and compared with the neutrino fluxes detected in underground detectors. Contained neutrino events are characterized by observation of an interaction within the fiducial volume of the detector when the incoming particle is not observed. Both the neutrino flux and the containment requirement restrict the energy of the neutrinos observed in contained interactions to less than several GeV. Neutrinos interact with the rock surrounding the detector but only muon neutrino interactions can be observed, as the electron energy is dissipated too fast in the rock. The direction of the neutrino is preserved in the interaction and at energies above 1 TeV the angular resolution is restricted by the scattering of the muon in the rock. The muon rate reflects the neutrino spectrum above some threshold energy, determined by the detector efficiency for muons.

The Neutrino Factory is a facility that produces neutrino beams with a well-defined flavour content and energy spectrum from the decay of intense, high-energy, stored muon beams to establish CP violation in the neutrino sector. The International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) is providing a Reference Design Report (RDR) for the facility. The present design is optimised for the recent measurements of θ{sub 13}. The accelerator facility will deliver 10{sup 21} muon decays per year from 10 GeV stored muon beams. The straight sections of the storage ring point to a 100 kton Magnetised Iron Neutrino Detector (MIND) at a distance of 2000-2500 km from the source. The accuracy in the value of δ{sub CP} that a Neutrino Factory can achieve and the δ{sub CP} coverage is unrivalled by other future facilities. Staging scenarios for the Neutrino Factory deliver facilities that can carry out physics at each stage. In the context of Fermilab, such a scenario would imply in the first stage the construction of a small storage ring, nuSTORM, to carry out neutrino cross-section and sterile neutrino measurements and to perform a programme of 6D muon cooling R&D. The second stage is the construction of a 5 GeV Neutrino Factory (nuMAX) pointing to the Sanford Underground Research Facility at Homestake and the final stage would use many of the components of this facility to construct a Muon Collider, initially as a 126 GeV CM Higgs Factory, which may be upgraded to a multi-TeV Muon Collider if required.

The Neutrino Factory is a facility that produces neutrino beams with a well-defined flavour content and energy spectrum from the decay of intense, high-energy, stored muon beams to establish CP violation in the neutrino sector. The International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) is providing a Reference Design Report (RDR) for the facility. The present design is optimised for the recent measurements of θ13. The accelerator facility will deliver 1021 muon decays per year from 10 GeV stored muon beams. The straight sections of the storage ring point to a 100 kton Magnetised Iron Neutrino Detector (MIND) at a distance of 2000-2500 km from the source. The accuracy in the value of δCP that a Neutrino Factory can achieve and the δCP coverage is unrivalled by other future facilities. Staging scenarios for the Neutrino Factory deliver facilities that can carry out physics at each stage. In the context of Fermilab, such a scenario would imply in the first stage the construction of a small storage ring, nuSTORM, to carry out neutrino cross-section and sterile neutrino measurements and to perform a programme of 6D muon cooling R&D. The second stage is the construction of a 5 GeV Neutrino Factory (nuMAX) pointing to the Sanford Underground Research Facility at Homestake and the final stage would use many of the components of this facility to construct a Muon Collider, initially as a 126 GeV CM Higgs Factory, which may be upgraded to a multi-TeV Muon Collider if required.

We discuss neutrino oscillation physics with a neutrino factory in stages, including the possibility of upgrading the muon energy within the same program. We point out that a detector designed for the low energy neutrino factory may be used off axis in a high energy neutrino factory beam. We include the re-optimization of the experiment depending on the value of {theta}{sub 13} found. As upgrade options, we consider muon energy, additional baselines, a detector mass upgrade, an off-axis detector, and the platinum (muon to electronneutrino) channels. In addition, we test the impact of Daya Bay data on the optimization. We find that for large {theta}{sub 13} ({theta}{sub 13} discovered by the next generation of experiments), a low energy neutrino factory might be the most plausible minimal version to test the unknown parameters. However, if a higher muon energy is needed for new physics searches, a high energy version including an off-axis detector may be an interesting alternative. For small {theta}{sub 13} ({theta}{sub 13} not discovered by the next generation), a plausible program could start with a low energy neutrino factory, followed by energy upgrade, and then baseline or detector mass upgrade, depending on the outcome of the earlier phases.

Neutrino-neutrino interactions inside core-collapse supernovae may give rise to collective flavor oscillations resulting in swap between flavors. These oscillations depend on the initial energy spectra, and relative fluxes or relative luminosities of the neutrinos. It has been observed that departure from energy equipartition among different flavors can give rise to one or more sharp spectral swap over energy, termed as splits. We study the occurrence of splits in the neutrino and antineutrino spectra, varying the initial relative fluxes for different models of initial energy spectrum, in both normal and inverted hierarchy. These initial relative flux variations give rise to several possible split patterns whereas variation over different models of energy spectra give similar results. We explore the effect of these spectral splits on the electron fraction, Y{sub e}, that governs r-process nucleosynthesis inside supernovae. Since spectral splits modify the electronneutrino and antineutrino spectra in the region where r-process is postulated to happen, and since the pattern of spectral splits depends on the initial conditions of the spectra and the neutrino mass hierarchy, we show that the condition Y{sub e} < 0.5 required for successful r-process nucleosynthesis will lead to constraints on the initial spectral conditions, for a given neutrino mass hierarchy.

Recent experimental results and developments in the theoretical treatment of neutrino-nucleus interactions in the energy range of 1–10 GeV are discussed. Difficulties in extracting neutrino-nucleon cross sections from neutrino-nucleus scattering data are explained and significance of understanding nuclear effects for neutrino oscillation experiments is stressed. Detailed discussions of the status of two-body current contribution in the kinematic region dominated by quasielastic scattering and specific features of partonic nuclear effects in weak DIS scattering are presented.

Recent experimental results and developments in the theoretical treatment of neutrino-nucleus interactions in the energy range of 1–10 GeV are discussed. Difficulties in extracting neutrino-nucleon cross sections from neutrino-nucleus scattering data are explained and significance of understanding nuclear effects for neutrino oscillation experiments is stressed. Detailed discussions of the status of two-body current contribution in the kinematic region dominated by quasielastic scattering and specific features of partonic nuclear effects in weak DIS scattering are presented.

Available from UMI in association with The British Library. Requires signed TDF. A modest spectrometer has been constructed and employed in measurements of electron energy spectra from the beta decay of ^ {35}S and ^{63} Ni. In both cases studied the data exhibit a threshold distortion 17 keV below the endpoint which is well described by the hypothesis that the electronneutrino couples to a heavy mass eigenstate. In terms of a two state mixing scheme and after radiative corrections, the ^ {35}S data indicate an M_2 = 16.95 +/- 0.35 keV component coupling with a mixing probability of sin^2 theta = 0.0078 +/- 0.0008. Data from a ^{63}Ni measurement yield a similar result with M_2 = 16.75 +/- 0.38 keV and sin ^2theta = 0.0101 +/- 0.0021. The errors quoted include both statistical and systematic contributions where systematic effects arise, predominantly, through small uncertainties in the electron response function. The electron response function has been measured from internal conversion electrons following electron capture, details of which are described. These results agree with earlier observations in the beta^ectra of ^3 H and ^{35}S as well as more recent studies of the ^{14 }C spectrum. On the other hand, experiments employing magnetic spectrometers provide no such evidence for heavy neutrino emission in nuclear beta decay. While this leaves the experimental situation unsettled some thoughts are provided on possible shortcomings of these experiments. In addition, a discussion is given on the possibility of alternative descriptions of the data providing positive evidence for the 17-keV neutrino as well as to how the experimental situation might be improved in the future. A technique is proposed which can serve to resolve the issue both with respect to experiments employing solid state detectors as well as those using magnetic spectrometers. If the interpretation of the anomalies observed in beta spectra is correct then we have our first glimpse that neutrinos

A long-standing problem in supernova physics is how to measure the total energy and temperature of {nu}{sub {mu}}, {nu}{sub {tau}}, {bar {nu}}{sub {mu}}, and {bar {nu}}{sub {tau}}. While of the highest importance, this is very difficult because these flavors only have neutral-current detector interactions. We propose that neutrino-proton elastic scattering, {nu} + p {yields} {nu} + p, can be used for the detection of supernova neutrinos in scintillator detectors. It should be emphasized immediately that the dominant signal is on free protons. Though the proton recoil kinetic energy spectrum is soft, with T{sub p} {approx_equal} 2E{sub {nu}}{sup 2}/M{sub p}, and the scintillation light output from slow, heavily ionizing protons is quenched, the yield above a realistic threshold is nearly as large as that from {bar {nu}}{sub e} + p {yields} e{sup +} + n. In addition, the measured proton spectrum is related to the incident neutrino spectrum. The ability to detect this signal would give detectors like KamLAND and Borexino a crucial and unique role in the quest to detect supernova neutrinos.

Uncertainties related to the effect of neutrino coherent forward scattering in Earth’s matter (MSW mechanism) and with the cross-sections of quasi-elastic (QE) neutrinoscattering on nuclear targets of the NOνA detectors are studied. The NOνA sensitivity to the neutrino mass hierarchy and the CP violating phase is discussed.

The NuMI Facility at Fermilab provides an extremely intense beam of neutrinos making it an ideal place for the study of neutrino oscillations as well as high statistics (anti)neutrino-nucleon/nucleus scattering experiments. The MINOS neutrino oscillation {nu}{mu} disappearance experiment is currently taking data and has published first results. The NO{nu}A {nu}e appearance experiment is planning to begin taking data at the start of the next decade. For the study of neutrinoscattering, the MINER{nu}A experiment at Fermilab is a collaboration of elementary-particle and nuclear physicists planning to use a fully active fine-grained solid scintillator detector. The overall goals of the experiment are to measure absolute exclusive cross-sections, nuclear effects in {nu} - A interactions, a systematic study of the resonance-DIS transition region and the high-xBj - low Q2 DIS region.

Hypercritical accretion flows onto stellar mass black holes (BHs) are commonly believed to be as a promising model of central engines of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this model a certain fraction of the gravitational binding energy of accreting matter is deposited to the energy of relativistic jets via neutrino annihilation and/or magnetic fields. However, some recent studies have indicated that the energy deposition rate by neutrino annihilation is somewhat smaller than that needed to power a GRB. To overcome this difficulty, Ramirez-Ruiz and Socrates proposed that high-energy neutrinos from the hot corona above the accretion disk might enhance the efficiency of the energy deposition. We elucidate the disk corona model in the context of hypercritical accretion flows. From the energy balance in the disk and the corona, we can calculate the disk and coronal temperature, Td and Tc, and neutrino spectra, taking into account the neutrino cooling processes by neutrino-electron scatterings and neutrino pair productions. The calculated neutrino spectra consist of two peaks: one by the neutrino emission from the disk and the other by that from the corona. We find that the disk corona can enhance the efficiency of energy release but only by a factor of 1.5 or so, unless the height of the corona is very small, Hll r. This is because the neutrino emission is very sensitive to the temperature of the emitting region, and then the ratio Tc/Td cannot be very large.

We characterize statistically the indications of a presence of one or more light sterile neutrinos from MiniBooNE and LSND data, together with the reactor and gallium anomalies, in the global context. The compatibility of the aforementioned signals with null results from solar, atmospheric, reactor, and accelerator experiments is evaluated. We conclude that a severe tension is present in the global fit, and therefore the addition of eV-scale sterile neutrinos does not satisfactorily explain the anomalies.

We derive the collision term relevant for neutrino quantum kinetic equations in the early universe and compact astrophysical objects, displaying its full matrix structure in both flavor and spin degrees of freedom. We include in our analysis neutrino-neutrino processes, scattering and annihilation with electrons and positrons, and neutrinoscattering off nucleons (the latter in the low-density limit). After presenting the general structure of the collision terms, we take two instructive limiting cases. The one-flavor limit highlights the structure in helicity space and allows for a straightforward interpretation of the off-diagonal entries in terms of the product of scattering amplitudes ofmore » the two helicity states. As a result, the isotropic limit is relevant for studies of the early universe: in this case the terms involving spin coherence vanish and the collision term can be expressed in terms of two-dimensional integrals, suitable for computational implementation.« less

Recently a new method for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy by comparing the effective values of the atmospheric {Delta}m{sup 2} measured in the electronneutrino disappearance channel, {Delta}m{sup 2}(ee), with the one measured in the muon neutrino disappearance channel, {Delta}m{sup 2}({mu}{mu}), was proposed. If {Delta}m{sup 2}(ee) is larger (smaller) than {Delta}m{sup 2} ({mu}{mu}) the hierarchy is of the normal (inverted) type. We re-examine this proposition in the light of two very high precision measurements: {Delta}m{sup 2}({mu}{mu}) that may be accomplished by the phase II of the Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment, for example, and {Delta}m{sup 2}(ee) that can be envisaged using the novel Moessbauer enhanced resonant {bar {nu}}{sub e} absorption technique. Under optimistic assumptions for the systematic uncertainties of both measurements, we estimate the parameter region of ({theta}{sub 13}, {delta}) in which the mass hierarchy can be determined. If {theta}{sub 13} is relatively large, sin{sup 2} 2{theta}{sub 13} {approx}> 0.05, and both of {Delta}m{sup 2}(ee) and {Delta}m{sup 2}({mu}{mu}) can be measured with the precision of {approx} 0.5 % it is possible to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy at > 95% CL for 0.3{pi} {approx}< {delta} {approx}< 1.7 {pi} for the current best fit values of all the other oscillation parameters.

The apparent anticorrelation of the solar-neutrino signal with the 11-yr sunspot cycle observed by Davis can be understood if the electronneutrino has a large magnetic moment. We discuss extensions of the standard model, where the existence of a leptonic SU(2)H-horizontal symmetry between the electron and muon generations provides a way to understand such a large magnetic moment, while keeping the neutrino mass naturally small. A global le-lμ symmetry (li=ith lepton number) is maintained even after spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking, so that the neutrino is of Zeldovich-Konopinski-Mahmoud type with m2νe-m2νμ=0. This condition automatically guarantees that the neutrino spin precession in the magnetic field of the Sun is not suppressed. Of the two extensions of the standard model that we discuss, the first one is a local SU(2)H model with the horizontal symmetry broken completely at a TeV scale. We show how a global U(1)le-lμ can be maintained although le-lμ is a subgroup of the gauged SU(2)H. The second example is the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model with R-parity-violating [but (le-lμ)-conserving] interactions. An approximate SU(2)H symmetry between the e-μ families is imposed in order to suppress the neutrino mass, but not its magnetic moment. We provide a detailed theoretical and phenomenological investigation of these two models and discuss their tests at the colliders as well as in low-energy experiments. The models generally predict mνe~=1-10 eV and the existence of charged scalar particles in the mass range of 100 GeV.

Neutrino-induced nuclear reactions are considered to play important roles in the dynamics of supernova explosions and in supernova nucleosynthesis. For example, neutrino-inelastic scattering off light nuclei are supposed to assist the explosion by supplying the kinetic energy to the outgoing matters. The neutrino-nucleus reactions via the neutral and charged current of the weak interaction are the key reactions in the r-process nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven wind. To quantitatively understand those phenomena, precise data of the neutrino-nucleus reaction rates are indispensable. Recently developed secondary particle beams provide good experimental opportunities for determining the neutrino-nucleus reaction rates. A quasi-monochromatic laser Compton-scattered (LCS) photon beam is useful for studying the photonuclear reactions which are the direct analogue of the neutrino inelastic scatterings caused by the weak neutral current. On the other hand, real neutrino beams are ideal tools to directly measure the absolute neutrino-nucleus reaction rates. Another interesting probe will be the nuclear muon-capture reaction, because it can be applied for measurement of the targets with very small quantities thanks to its large capture probability. In this talk recent progress in ongoing experiments with LCS gamma-rays and muon beams will be presented. A new plan for direct measurement of the neutrino-nucleus reactions with an accelerator-driven neutrino beam will be also discussed.

It is widely believed that charm meson production and decay may play an important role in high energy astrophysical sources of neutrinos, especially those that are baryon-rich, providing an environment conducive to pp interactions. Using slow-jet supernovae (SJS) as an example of such a source, we study the detectability of high-energy neutrinos, paying particular attention to those produced from charmed-mesons. We highlight important distinguishing features in the ultra-high energy neutrino flux which would act as markers for the role of charm in the source. In particular, charm leads to significant event rates at higher energies, after the conventional (π,K) neutrino fluxes fall off. We calculate event rates both for a nearby single source and for diffuse SJS fluxes for an IceCube-like detector. By comparing muon event rates for the conventional and prompt fluxes in different energy bins, we demonstrate the striking energy dependence in the rates induced by the presence of charm. We also show that it leads to an energy dependant flux ratio of shower to muon events, providing an additional important diagnostic tool for the presence of prompt neutrinos. Motivated by the infusion of high energy anti-electronneutrinos into the flux by charm decay, we also study the detectability of the Glashow resonance due to these sources.

We extend the analysis of the deeply virtual Compton scattering process to the weak interaction sector in the generalized Bjorken limit. The virtual Compton scattering amplitudes for the weak neutral and charged currents are calculated at the leading twist within the framework of the nonlocal light-cone expansion via coordinate space QCD string operators. Using a simple model, we estimate cross sections for neutrinoscattering off the nucleon, relevant for future high intensity neutrino beam facilities.

The NuTeV experiment at Fermilab has obtained a unique high statistics sample of neutrino and anti-neutrino interactions using its high-energy sign-selected beam. We present a measurement of the differential cross section for charged-current neutrino and anti-neutrinoscattering from iron. Structure functions, F{sub 2}(x,Q{sup 2}) and xF{sub 3}(x,Q{sup 2}), are determined by fitting the inelasticity, y, dependence of the cross sections. This measurement has significantly improved systematic precision as a consequence of more precise understanding of hadron and muon energy scales.

We describe the current status of solar neutrino measurements and of the theory—both neutrino physics and solar astrophysics—employed in interpreting measurements. Important recent developments include Super-Kamiokande's determination of the ν-e elastic scattering rate for 8B neutrinos to 3%; the latest Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) global analysis in which the inclusion of low-energy data from SNO I and II significantly narrowed the range of allowed values for the neutrino mixing angle θ12; Borexino results for both the 7Be and proton-electron-proton (pep) neutrino fluxes, the first direct measurements constraining the rate of proton-proton (pp) I and pp II burning in the Sun; global reanalyses of solar neutrino data that take into account new reactor results on θ13; a new decadal evaluation of the nuclear physics of the pp chain and CNO cycle defining best values and uncertainties in the nuclear microphysics input to solar models; recognition of an emerging discrepancy between two tests of solar metallicity, helioseismological mappings of the sound speed in the solar interior, and analyses of the metal photoabsorption lines based on our best current description of the Sun's photosphere; a new round of standard solar model calculations optimized to agree either with helioseismology or with the new photospheric analysis; and, motivated by the solar abundance problem, the development of nonstandard, accreting solar models, in order to investigate possible consequences of the metal segregation that occurred in the proto-solar disk. We review this progress and describe how new experiments such as SNO+ could help us further exploit neutrinos as a unique probe of stellar interiors.

The term beta-beam has been coined for the production of a pure beam of electronneutrinos or their antiparticles through the decay of radioactive ions circulating in a storage ring. This concept requires radioactive ions to be accelerated to a Lorentz gamma of 150 for {sup 6}He and 60 for {sup 18}Ne. The neutrino source itself consists of a storage ring for this energy range, with long straight sections in line with the experiment(s). Such a decay ring does not exist at CERN today, nor does a high-intensity proton source for the production of the radioactive ions. Nevertheless, the existing CERN accelerator infrastructure could be used as this would still represent an important saving for a beta-beam facility. This paper outlines the first study, while some of the more speculative ideas will need further investigations.

The nuclear gross theory, originally formulated by Takahashi and Yamada (1969 Prog. Theor. Phys. 41 1470) for the β-decay, is applied to the electronic-neutrino nucleus reactions, employing a more realistic description of the energetics of the Gamow-Teller resonances. The model parameters are gauged from the most recent experimental data, both for β--decay and electron capture, separately for even-even, even-odd, odd-odd and odd-even nuclei. The numerical estimates for neutrino-nucleus cross-sections agree fairly well with previous evaluations done within the framework of microscopic models. The formalism presented here can be extended to the heavy nuclei mass region, where weak processes are quite relevant, which is of astrophysical interest because of its applications in supernova explosive nucleosynthesis.

The cold dark matter (CDM) scenario for structure formation in the Universe is very attractive and has many successes; however, when its spectrum of density perturbations is normalized to the COBE anisotropy measurement the level of inhomogeneity predicted on small scales is too large. This can be remedied by a tau neutrino of mass 1 MeV - 10MeV and lifetime 0.1 sec - 100 sec whose decay products include electronneutrinos because it allows the total energy density in relativistic particles to be doubled without interfering with nucleosynthesis. The anisotropies predicted on the degree scale for 'tau CDM' are larger than standard CDM. Experiments at e(sup +/-) collides may be able to probe such a mass range.

A phenomenological study of Bloom-Gilman duality is performed in electron and neutrinoscattering on nuclei. In the resonance region the structure functions are calculated within the phenomenological models of Ghent and Giessen groups, where only the resonance contribution is taken into account, and the background one is neglected. Structure functions F{sub 2} in the resonance region are compared with the DIS ones, extracted directly from the experimental data. The results show, that within the models considered the Bloom-Gilman duality does not work well for nuclei: the integrated strength in the resonance region is considerably lower than in the DIS one.

Neutrino-nucleus reaction cross sections are now evaluated rather accurately by shell-model (SM) or SM+RPA calculations based on recent advances in nuclear structure studies. Due to these achievements, reliable constraints on super-nova neutrino temperatures as well as neutrino oscillation parameters become possible. Supernova neutrino tempeatures are constrained from abundances of elements obtained by using new ν-nucleus reaction cross sections. A possibility of constructing supernova neutrino spectrum from beta-beam measurements is pointed out. Neutrino mass hierarchy and mixing angle θ13 can be determined from abundance ratio of 7Li/11B, which is sensitive to the MSW matter oscillation effects in supernova explosions. Inverted mass hierarchy is shown to be statistically more favored based on a recent analysis of presolar grains. Effects of neutrino-neutrino interactions are also shown to play important roles in r-process nucleosynthesis. Importance and possibilities of direct measurements of ν-induced cross sections on 40Ar and 208Pb are discussed for future supernova neutrino detections. Recent calculations of the cross sections for ν-40Ar are presented. The need for new theoretical evaluations of the cross sections for ν-208Pb is pointed out. Challenges to experiments on coherent elastic scattering are presented.

Neutrino-nucleus reaction cross sections are now evaluated rather accurately by shell-model (SM) or SM+RPA calculations based on recent advances in nuclear structure studies. Due to these achievements, reliable constraints on super-nova neutrino temperatures as well as neutrino oscillation parameters become possible. Supernova neutrino tempeatures are constrained from abundances of elements obtained by using new ν-nucleus reaction cross sections. A possibility of constructing supernova neutrino spectrum from beta-beam measurements is pointed out. Neutrino mass hierarchy and mixing angle θ{sub 13} can be determined from abundance ratio of {sup 7}Li/{sup 11}B, which is sensitive to the MSW matter oscillation effects in supernova explosions. Inverted mass hierarchy is shown to be statistically more favored based on a recent analysis of presolar grains. Effects of neutrino-neutrino interactions are also shown to play important roles in r-process nucleosynthesis. Importance and possibilities of direct measurements of ν-induced cross sections on {sup 40}Ar and {sup 208}Pb are discussed for future supernova neutrino detections. Recent calculations of the cross sections for ν-{sup 40}Ar are presented. The need for new theoretical evaluations of the cross sections for ν-{sup 208}Pb is pointed out. Challenges to experiments on coherent elastic scattering are presented.

A low-threshold neutrinoscattering experiment at a high-intensity stopped-pion neutrino source has the potential to measure coherent neutral current neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering. Coherent scattering is a vital process for driving stellar explosion mechanisms which are as yet poorly understood in supernova evolution, and may provide a means to detect neutrino bursts from nearby supernova. The coherent scattering interaction rate can be very precisely calculated in the Standard Model, therefore comparison to measurements provides for another means to test the Standard Model and an opportunity to search for non-standard neutrino interactions. A promising prospect for the measurement of this process is a proposed noble-liquid-based experiment, dubbed CLEAR (Coherent Low-Energy A(Nuclear) Recoils), at the Spallation Neutron Source located at ORNL in Tennessee. This talk will describe the CLEAR proposal and its physics reach.

Theoretical concepts and motivations for considering neutrinos having finite masses are discussed and the experimental situation on searches for neutrino masses and oscillations is summarized. The solar neutrino problem, reactor, deep mine and accelerator data, tri decay experiments and double beta-decay data are considered and cosmological implications and astrophysical data relating to neutrino masses are reviewed. The neutrino oscillation solution to the solar neutrino problem, the missing mass problem in galaxy halos and galaxy cluster galaxy formation and clustering, and radiative neutrino decay and the cosmic ultraviolet background radiation are examined.

Dark matter detectors will soon be sensitive to Solar neutrinos via two distinct channels: coherent neutrino-nucleus and neutrino-electron elastic scatterings. We establish an analysis method for extracting Solar model properties and neutrino properties from these measurements, including the possible effects of sterile neutrinos which have been hinted at by some reactor experiments and cosmological measurements. Even including sterile neutrinos, through the coherent scattering channel, a 1 ton-year exposure with a low-threshold background free Germanium detector could improve on the current measurement of the normalization of the B 8 Solar neutrino flux down to 3% or less. Combining with the neutrino-electron elastic scattering data will provide constraints on both the high- and low-energy survival probability and will improve on the uncertainty on the active-to-sterile mixing angle by a factor of 2. This sensitivity to active-to-sterile transitions is competitive and complementary to forthcoming dedicated short baseline sterile neutrino searches with nuclear decays. Finally, we show that such solar neutrino physics potentials can be reached as long as the signal-to-noise ratio is better than 0.1.

In late 2012 the US Department of Energy gave approval for the first phase of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE), that will conduct a broad scientific program including neutrino oscillations, neutrinoscattering physics, search for baryon violation, supernova burst neutrinos and other related astrophysical phenomena. The project is now being reformulated as an international facility hosted by the United States. The facility will consist of an intense neutrino beam produced at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a highly capable set of neutrino detectors on the Fermilab campus, and a large underground liquid argon time projection chamber at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota 1300 km from Fermilab. With an intense beam and massive far detector, the experimental program at the facility will make detailed studies of neutrino oscillations, including measurements of the neutrino mass hierarchy and Charge-Parity symmetry violation, by measuring neutrino and anti-neutrino mixing separately. At the near site, the high-statistics neutrinoscattering data will allow for many cross section measurements and precision tests of the Standard Model. This presentation will describe the configuration developed by the LBNE collaboration, the broad physics program, and the status of the formation of the international facility.

In late 2012 the US Department of Energy gave approval for the first phase of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) that will conduct a broad scientific program including neutrino oscillations, neutrinoscattering physics, search for baryon violation, supernova burst neutrinos and other related astrophysical phenomena. The project is now being reformulated as an international facility hosted by the United States. The facility will consist of an intense neutrino beam produced at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a highly capable set of neutrino detectors on the Fermilab campus, and a large underground liquid argon time projection chamber at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota 1300 km from Fermilab. With an intense beam and massive far detector, the experimental program at the facility will make detailed studies of neutrino oscillations, including measurements of the neutrino mass hierarchy and Charge-Parity symmetry violation, by measuring neutrino and anti-neutrino mixing separately. At the near site, the high-statistics neutrinoscattering data will allow for many cross section measurements and precision tests of the Standard Model. This presentation will describe the configuration developed by the LBNE collaboration, the broad physics program, and the status of the formation of the international facility.

In late 2012 the US Department of Energy gave approval for the first phase of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) that will conduct a broad scientific program including neutrino oscillations, neutrinoscattering physics, search for baryon violation, supernova burst neutrinos and other related astrophysical phenomena. The project is now being reformulated as an international facility hosted by the United States. The facility will consist of an intense neutrino beam produced at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a highly capable set of neutrino detectors on the Fermilab campus, and a large underground liquid argon time projection chamber at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota 1300 km from Fermilab. With an intense beam and massive far detector, the experimental program at the facility will make detailed studies of neutrino oscillations, including measurements of the neutrino mass hierarchy and Charge-Parity symmetry violation, by measuring neutrino and anti-neutrino mixing separately. At the near site, the high-statistics neutrinoscattering data will allow for many cross section measurements and precision tests of the Standard Model. This presentation will describe the configuration developed by the LBNE collaboration, the broad physics program, and the status of the formation of the international facility.

I shall attempt to summarize recent developments in the experimental situation in neutrino physics. The paper will deal with recent results, drawing on either published work or research that has been presented in preprint form, as there is an adequate supply of interesting and controversial data restricting oneself to these generally more reliable sources. The discussion of the theoretical implication of these experimental results will be presented in the following paper by Boris Kayser. The topics to be covered in this presentation are: direct measurements of {bar {nu}}{sub e} mass via beta endpoint studies; status of solar neutrino observations; status of 17-keV neutrino'' reports; and the use of {nu}p elastic scattering to determine the strange quark'' content of the proton. 2 refs., 15 figs., 9 tabs.

The observation of the recent electronneutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam and the high-precision measurement of the mixing angle θ _{13} have led to a re-evaluation of the physics potential of the T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Sensitivities are explored for CP violation in neutrinos, non-maximal sin ^22θ _{23}, the octant of θ _{23}, and the mass hierarchy, in addition to the measurements of δ _{CP}, sin ^2θ _{23}, and Δ m^2_{32}, for various combinations of ν-mode and bar {ν }-mode data-taking. With an exposure of 7.8× 10^{21} protons-on-target, T2K can achieve 1σ resolution of 0.050 (0.054) on sin ^2θ _{23} and 0.040 (0.045)× 10^{-3} {eV}^2 on Δ m^2_{32} for 100% (50%) neutrino beam mode running assuming sin ^2θ _{23}=0.5 and Δ m^2_{32} = 2.4× 10^{-3} eV^2. T2K will have sensitivity to the CP-violating phase δ _{CP} at 90% C.L. or better over a significant range. For example, if sin ^22θ _{23} is maximal (i.e. θ _{23}=45°) the range is -115° < δ _{CP}< -60° for normal hierarchy and +50° < δ _{CP}< +130° for inverted hierarchy. When T2K data is combined with data from the NOνA experiment, the region of oscillation parameter space where there is sensitivity to observe a non-zero δ _{CP} is substantially increased compared to if each experiment is analyzed alone.

The authors present a design for a multidetector long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment at the BNL AGS. It has been approved by the BNL-HENP-PAC as AGS Experiment 889. The experiment will search for oscillations in the nu(sub mu) disappearance channel and the nu(sub mu) reversible reaction nu(sub e) appearance channel by means of four identical neutrino detectors located 1, 3, 24, and 68 km from the AGS neutrino source. Observed depletion of the nu(sub mu) flux (via quasi-elastic muon neutrino events, nu(sub mu)n yields mu(-)p) in the far detectors not attended by an observed proportional increase of the nu(sub e) flux (via quasi-elastic electronneutrino events, nu(sub e)n yields e(-)p) in those detectors will be prima facie evidence for the oscillation channel nu(sub mu) reversible reaction nu(sub tau). The experiment is directed toward exploration of the region of the neutrino oscillation parameters Delta m(exp 2) and sin(exp 2) 2 theta, suggested by the Kamiokande and IMB deep underground detectors but it will also explore a region more than two orders of magnitude larger than that of previous accelerator experiments. The experiment will run in a mode new to BNL. It will receive the fast extracted proton beam on the neutrino target approximately 20 hours per day when the AGS is not filling RHIC. A key aspect of the experimental design involves placing the detectors 1.5 degrees off the center line of the neutrino beam, which has the important advantage that the central value of the neutrino energy (approximately 1 GeV) and the beam spectral shape are, to a good approximation, the same in all four detectors. The proposed detectors are massive, imaging, water Cherenkov detectors similar in large part to the Kamiokande and IMB detectors. The design has profited from their decade-long experience, and from the detector designs of the forthcoming SNO and SuperKamiokande detectors.

A survey of sin{sup 2} {theta}{sub W}, {rho}, CKM matrix, and axial-isoscalar neutral current measurements via neutrinoscattering is presented. Loop effects due to heavy top or a fourth generation are described. Neutrino oscillations are discussed in a three generation mixing framework and some motivation for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub {tau}} oscillation searches is given. 15 refs., 1 tab.

The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is modified to incorporate the parity violation in the Standard Model leading to a new instability of magnetic fields in the electroweak plasma in the presence of nonzero neutrino asymmetries. The main ingredient for such a modified MHD is the antisymmetric part of the photon polarization tensor in plasma, where the parity violating neutrino interaction with charged leptons is present. We calculate this contribution to the polarization tensor connected with the Chern-Simons term in effective Lagrangian of the electromagnetic field. The general expression for such a contribution which depends on the temperature and the chemical potential of plasma as well as on the photon's momentum is derived. The instability of a magnetic field driven by the electronneutrino asymmetry for the ν-burst during the first second of a supernova explosion can amplify a seed magnetic field of a protostar, and, perhaps, can explain the generation of strongest magnetic fields in magnetars. The growth of a cosmological magnetic field driven by the neutrino asymmetry density Δn{sub ν} = n{sub ν}−n{sub ν-bar}≠0 is provided by a lower bound on |ξ{sub ν{sub e}}| = |μ{sub ν{sub e}}|/T which is consistent with the well-known Big Bang nucleosynthesis (upper) bound on neutrino asymmetries in a hot universe plasma.

The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is modified to incorporate the parity violation in the Standard Model leading to a new instability of magnetic fields in the electroweak plasma in the presence of nonzero neutrino asymmetries. The main ingredient for such a modified MHD is the antisymmetric part of the photon polarization tensor in plasma, where the parity violating neutrino interaction with charged leptons is present. We calculate this contribution to the polarization tensor connected with the Chern-Simons term in effective Lagrangian of the electromagnetic field. The general expression for such a contribution which depends on the temperature and the chemical potential of plasma as well as on the photon's momentum is derived. The instability of a magnetic field driven by the electronneutrino asymmetry for the ν-burst during the first second of a supernova explosion can amplify a seed magnetic field of a protostar, and, perhaps, can explain the generation of strongest magnetic fields in magnetars. The growth of a cosmological magnetic field driven by the neutrino asymmetry density Δnν = nν-nbar nu≠0 is provided by a lower bound on |ξνe| = |μνe|/T which is consistent with the well-known Big Bang nucleosynthesis (upper) bound on neutrino asymmetries in a hot universe plasma.

Neutrino cross-section measurements are an essential requirement for the next generation of neutrino oscillation experiments and they are presently limited by uncertainties on neutrino fluxes. In [1] we propose to instrument a neutrino decay tunnel to detect large angle positrons and tag the three-body semileptonic K+ →e+π0νe decays. In such a facility the absolute electronneutrino flux could be determined with unprecedented precision (O(1%)). An e+/π+ separation capability of about 2% as well as a high e+ efficiency is required for a diffuse particle source over a length of several tens of meters. Additional constraints, due to the harsh beam environment, involve radiation hardness and fast response. For this purpose we propose a specialized shashlik calorimeter (copper-scintillator) with a compact readout based on small-area Silicon PhotoMultipliers coupled to WLS fibers. The setup would allow an effective longitudinal segmentation for electron/hadron separation, reducing the dead zones introduced by fiber bundling. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations are in progress. The construction of a small prototype and exposures to pion and electron beams are foreseen.

Neutrinoscattering experiments have been studying QCD for over 30 years. From the Gargamelle experiments in the early 70's, through the subsequent bubble chamber and electronic detector experiments in the 80's and 90's, neutrinoscattering experiments have steadily accumulated increasing statistics and minimized their systematic errors. An example of the more recent studies of QCD with neutrinos is from the TeVatron neutrino beam--the NuTeV {nu}-Fe experiment. The problem the community faces in trying to study QCD with modern neutrino data is that there is no experimentally verified way to scale neutrino-nucleus (for example, Fe) results to the equivalent neutrino-nucleon values making it difficult to combine neutrino nucleus scattering data with charged-lepton nucleus and nucleon scattering data in QCD global fits to extract parton distribution functions. This is particularly crucial since there is now indications that nuclear effects in neutrino nucleus interactions are different than those measured in charged-lepton nucleus scattering. To better understand this situation, the MINER{nu}A neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment at Fermilab, a collaboration of elementary-particle and nuclear physicists, is systematically studying neutrino nuclear effects off of He, C, Fe and Pb for a more thorough A-dependent study of nuclear PDFs and these correction factors.

We have determined the dispersion relation of a neutrino test particle propagating in the cosmic neutrino background. Describing the relic neutrinos and antineutrinos from the hot big bang as a dense medium, a matter potential or refractive index is obtained. The vacuum neutrino mixing angles are unchanged, but the energy of each mass state is modified. Using a matrix in the space of neutrino species, the induced potential is decomposed into a part which produces signatures in beta-decay experiments and another part which modifies neutrino oscillations. The low temperature of the relic neutrinos makes a direct detection extremely challenging. From a different point of view, the identified refractive effects of the cosmic neutrino background constitute an ultralow background for future experimental studies of nonvanishing Lorentz violation in the neutrino sector.

The Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array, AMANDA, is a Cherenkov detector deployed deep in the ice cap at the South Pole. Charged particles traveling faster than the speed of light in ice produce Cherenkov radiation that is detected by Photo-Multiplier Tubes. Using the information obtained by the Photo- Multiplier Tubes, the physical characteristics, such as direction and energy, can be reconstructed. High energy neutrinos of all flavors can produce particle cascades when interacting with matter. In ice, cascades are typically a few meters long, much smaller than the dimensions of AMANDA. Electronneutrinos produce cascades via both the charged and neutral current interactions. Muon and tau neutrinos produce cascades via the neutral current interaction. Isolated cascades are also produced by tau neutrinos via charged current interactions, because the resulting tau, at energies below a few hundred TeV, will travel only a few meters before decaying. Advantages of the cascade channel, compared to neutrino induced muons are better energy resolution and an order of magnitude lower background from atmospheric neutrinos when searching for extra terrestrial neutrinos. Data collected in 1997 were searched for high energy neutrino induced cascades. A total of 1.18 × 109 events were recorded for an effective live-time of 130.1 days. The overwhelming majority of the events recorded were produced by down-going cosmic-ray induced muons. Bright muon energy losses are the main background when searching for high energy extra- terrestrial neutrino induced cascades. The sensitivity of the detector to cascades has been studied using in-situ light sources. No evidence for the existence of a diffuse flux of high energy neutrinos has been found. Limits have been set for fluxes following an E -2 power law spectrum. For ne+n e the limit isFE2<5.7-7.1×10- 6 Ge/Vdot s-1 dot sr-2 90%C.L.For ne+n e+nm+n m+nt+n t the limit is

We review the recent proposal that neutrinos are light because their masses are proportional to a low scale, f, of lepton flavor symmetry breaking. This mechanism is testable because the resulting pseudo-Goldstone bosons, of mass m_G, couple strongly with the neutrinos, affecting the acoustic oscillations during the eV era of the early universe that generate the peaks in the CMB radiation. Characteristic signals result over a very wide range of (f, m_G) because of a change in the total relativistic energy density and because the neutrinosscatter rather than free-stream. Thermodynamics allows a precise calculation of the signal, so that observations would not only confirm the late-time neutrino mass mechanism, but could also determine whether the neutrino spectrum is degenerate, inverted or hierarchical and whether the neutrinos are Dirac or Majorana. The flavor symmetries could also give light sterile states. If the masses of the sterile neutrinos turn on after the MeV era, the LSND oscillations can be explained without upsetting big bang nucleosynthesis, and, since the sterile states decay to lighter neutrinos and pseudo-Goldstones, without giving too much hot dark matter.

Super-Kamiokande (SK), a 50 kton water Cherenkov detector, observes 8B solar neutrinos via neutrino-electron elastic scattering. The analysis threshold was successfully lowered to 3.5 MeV (recoil electron kinetic energy) in SK-IV. To date SK has observed solar neutrinos for 18 years. An analysis regarding possible correlations between the solar neutrino flux and the 11 year solar activity cycle is shown. With large statistics, SK searches for distortions of the solar neutrino energy spectrum caused by the MSW resonance in the core of the sun. SK also searches for a day/night solar neutrino flux asymmetry induced by the matter in the Earth. The Super-Kamiokande Gd (SK-Gd) project is the upgrade of the SK detector via the addition of water-soluble gadolinium (Gd) salt. This modification will enable it to efficiently identify low energy anti-neutrinos. SK-Gd will pursue low energy physics currently inaccessible to SK due to backgrounds. The most important will be the world’s first observation of the diffuse supernova neutrino background. The main R&D program towards SK-Gd is EG ADS: a 200 ton, fully instrumented tank built in a new cavern in the Kamioka mine.

We investigate whether flavor changing neutrino interactions (FCNIs) can be sufficiently large to provide a viable solution to the atmospheric neutrino problem. Effective operators induced by heavy boson exchange that allow for flavor changing neutrinoscattering off quarks or electrons are related by an SU(2){sub L} rotation to operators that induce anomalous tau decays. Since SU(2){sub L} violation is small for new physics at or above the weak scale, one can use the upper bounds on lepton flavor violating tau decays or on lepton universality violation to put severe, model-independent bounds on the relevant non-standard neutrino interactions. Also Z-induced flavor changing neutral currents, due to heavy singlet neutrinos, are too small to be relevant for the atmospheric neutrino anomaly. We conclude that the FCNI solution to the atmospheric neutrino problem is ruled out. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.

We report a study of νμ charged-current quasielastic events in the segmented scintillator inner tracker of the MINERvA experiment running in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. The events were selected by requiring a μ⁻ and low calorimetric recoil energy separated from the interaction vertex. We measure the flux-averaged differential cross section, dσ/dQ², and study the low energy particle content of the final state. Deviations are found between the measured dσ/dQ² and the expectations of a model of independent nucleons in a relativistic Fermi gas. We also observe an excess of energy near the vertex consistent with multiple protons in the final state.

Neutrino-nucleus interactions play a prominent role in many astrophysical applications. Knowledge about nuclear responses to neutrinos is therefore of paramount importance. We present cross sections for neutral-current neutrino-nucleus scattering off the stable (A = 92,94,95,96,97,98,100) molybdenum isotopes. The nuclear responses for these nuclei are additionally computed by folding the computed cross sections with a Fermi-Dirac distribution.

Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPC's) provide a promising technology for multi-kiloton scale detectors aiming to address-among other pressing particle physics questions-the possibility of short and long baseline electronneutrino and antineutrino appearance. MicroBooNE, a 170 ton LArTPC under construction, is the next necessary step in a phased R&D effort toward construction and stable operation of larger-scale LArTPC's. This development effort also leans heavily on the ArgoNeuT and LAr1 LArTPC R&D experiments at Fermilab. In addition to advancing the LArTPC technology, these projects also provide unique physics opportunities. For example, Micro-BooNE will be located in the Booster Neutrino Beamline at Fermilab, at ∼470 m from neutrino production. Thus, in addition to measuring a suite of low energy neutrino cross sections on argon, MicroBooNE will investigate the anomalous low energy excess seen by the MiniBooNE experiment. Furthermore, the neutrino beam energy and relatively short baseline provide MicroBooNE with sensitivity to high-∼m2 neutrino oscillations. These proceedings summarize the role of the MicroBooNE detector in the US LArTPC R&D program, present its physics reach, and briefly discuss the physics potential of a dedicated near-future neutrino oscillation program at the Booster Neutrino Beamline, as a way to maximize the physics output of the Fermilab LArTPC R&D projects.

The recent results from Super-Kamiokande atmospheric and solar neutrino observations opens a new era in neutrino physics and has sparked a considerable interest in the physics possibilities with a Neutrino Factory based on the muon storage ring. We present physics opportunities at a Neutrino Factory, and prospects of Neutrino oscillation experiments. Using the precisely known flavor composition of the beam, one could envision an extensive program to measure the neutrino oscillation mixing matrix, including possible CP violating effects. These and Neutrino Interaction Rates for examples of a Neutrino Factory at BNL (and FNAL) with detectors at Gran Sasso, SLAC and Sudan are also presented.

The energy spectrum of high-energy neutrinos reported by the IceCube Collaboration shows a dip between 400 TeV and 1 PeV. One intriguing explanation is that high-energy neutrinosscatter with the cosmic neutrino background through an ˜MeV mediator. Taking the density matrix approach, we develop a formalism to study the propagation of PeV neutrinos in the presence of the new neutrino interaction. If the interaction is flavored such as the gauged Lμ-Lτ model we consider, the resonant collision may not suppress the PeV neutrino flux completely. The new force mediator may also contribute to the number of effectively massless degrees of freedom in the early Universe and change the diffusion time of neutrinos from the supernova core. Astrophysical observations such as big bang nucleosynthesis and supernova cooling provide an interesting test for the explanation.

We introduce a hybrid method to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy by simultaneous measurements of responses of at least two detectors to antineutrino and neutrino fluxes from accretion and cooling phases of core-collapse supernovae. The (anti)neutrino-nucleus cross sections for 56Fe and 208Pb are calculated in the framework of the relativistic nuclear energy density functional and weak interaction Hamiltonian, while the cross sections for inelastic scattering on free protons p(bar nue,e+)n are obtained using heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory. The modelling of (anti)neutrino fluxes emitted from a protoneutron star in a core-collapse supernova include collective and Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effects inside the exploding star. The particle emission rates from the elementary decay modes of the daughter nuclei are calculated for normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. It is shown that simultaneous use of (anti)neutrino detectors with different target material allows to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy from the ratios of νe- and bar nue-induced particle emissions. This hybrid method favors neutrinos from the supernova cooling phase and the implementation of detectors with heavier target nuclei (208Pb) for the neutrino sector, while for antineutrinos the use of free protons in mineral oil or water is the appropriate choice.

We solve the Boltzmann equation for the evolution of mu and tau-type neutrino distribution functions including contributions from electron scattering, electron-positron annihilation, nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung, and nucleon scattering at temperatures and densities relevant to supernova and protoneutron star calculations, but in an idealized system with no spatial or angular gradients. We incorporate the structure function formalism of Reddy et al. (1998) and Burrows and Sawyer (1998) in electron scattering and nucleon scattering, respectively, in order to include the full scattering kinematics at arbitrary degeneracy. Particularly, we examine the timescales for thermalization with the ambient nuclear medium and the approach to equilibrium.

We present results from the MINERνA experiment for neutrino-nucleus scattering in the few-GeV energy region. These measurements cover a range of processes that must be modeled correctly in neutrino oscillation experiments, and in which recent results from other experiments have suggested deficiencies in the models currently used.

Here we present analysis results from the MINERvA experiment for scattering of neutrinos on nucleus in an energy region of few GeV. These results cover a plethora of processes important for high precision neutrino oscillation measurements in which recent results have suggested that the currently used models are insufficient.

In particle physics, it is currently known that three types of neutrinos exist that interact via the weak force. Referred to as ``flavors,'' they are distinguishable and named for the lepton they produce through charged current interactions: electron, muon, and tau. In a process called neutrino oscillation, one flavor of neutrino can change into another flavor as it propagates through space. At the moment, mild discrepancies between expected and measured neutrino oscillations suggest that more types of neutrinos that do not interact via the weak force exist: sterile neutrinos. The goal of this project was to calculate non-sterile flavor oscillation probabilities when 1, 2 or 3 sterile neutrinos were assumed to exist. An application has been written in Mathematica that calculates these probabilities with the neutrino masses, linear relationships between mass and flavor states, values of CP symmetry violating constants, and constant densities of media in which the neutrinos propagate set as parameters. The application was published online for researchers to use as a tool when considering the existence of sterile neutrinos. In the immediate future, the insights this application gives into neutrino oscillations will be studied and reported. In particle physics, it is currently known that three types of neutrinos exist that interact via the weak force. Referred to as ``flavors,'' they are distinguishable and named for the lepton they produce through charged current interactions: electron, muon, and tau. In a process called neutrino oscillation, one flavor of neutrino can change into another flavor as it propagates through space. At the moment, mild discrepancies between expected and measured neutrino oscillations suggest that more types of neutrinos that do not interact via the weak force exist: sterile neutrinos. The goal of this project was to calculate non-sterile flavor oscillation probabilities when 1, 2 or 3 sterile neutrinos were assumed to exist. An application

The construction of inverse states in a finite field F{sub P{sub {alpha}}} enables the organization of the mass scale with fundamental octets in an eight-dimensional index space that identifies particle states with residue class designations. Conformance with both CPT invariance and the concept of supersymmetry follows as a direct consequence of this formulation. Based on two parameters (P{sub {alpha}} and g{sub {alpha}}) that are anchored on a concordance of physical data, this treatment leads to (1) a prospective mass for the muon neutrino of {approximately}27.68 meV, (2) a value of the unified strong-electroweak coupling constant {alpha}* = (34.26){sup {minus}1} that is physically defined by the ratio of the electronneutrino and muon neutrino masses, and (3) a see-saw congruence connecting the Higgs, the electronneutrino, and the muon neutrino masses. Specific evaluation of the masses of the corresponding supersymmetric Higgs pair reveals that both particles are superheavy (> 10{sup 18}GeV). No renormalization of the Higgs masses is introduced, since the calculational procedure yielding their magnitudes is intrinsically divergence-free. Further, the Higgs fulfills its conjectured role through the see-saw relation as the particle defining the origin of all particle masses, since the electron and muon neutrino systems, together with their supersymmetric partners, are the generators of the mass scale and establish the corresponding index space. Finally, since the computation of the Higgs masses is entirely determined by the modulus of the field P{sub {alpha}}, which is fully defined by the large-scale parameters of the universe through the value of the universal gravitational constant G and the requirement for perfect flatness ({Omega} = 1.0), the see-saw congruence fuses the concepts of mass and space and creates a new unified archetype.

We examine coherent active-active channel neutrino flavor evolution in environments where neutrino-neutrino forward scattering can engender large-scale collective flavor transformation. We introduce the concept of neutrino flavor isospin which treats neutrinos and antineutrinos on an equal footing, and which facilitates the analysis of neutrino systems in terms of the spin precession analogy. We point out a key quantity, the ''total effective energy,'' which is conserved in several important regimes. Using this concept, we analyze collective neutrino and antineutrino flavor oscillation in the synchronized mode and what we term the bi-polar mode. We thereby are able to explain why large collective flavor mixing can develop on short time scales even when vacuum mixing angles are small in, e.g., a dense gas of initially pure {nu}{sub e} and {nu}{sub e} with an inverted neutrino mass hierarchy (an example of bi-polar oscillation). In the context of the spin precession analogy, we find that the corotating frame provides insights into more general systems, where either the synchronized or bi-polar mode could arise. For example, we use the corotating frame to demonstrate how large flavor mixing in the bi-polar mode can occur in the presence of a large and dominant matter background. We use the adiabatic condition to derive a simple criterion for determining whether the synchronized or bi-polar mode will occur. Based on this criterion, we predict that neutrinos and antineutrinos emitted from a protoneutron star in a core-collapse supernova event can experience synchronized and bi-polar flavor transformations in sequence before conventional Mikhyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein flavor evolution takes over. This certainly will affect the analyses of future supernova neutrino signals, and might affect the treatment of shock reheating rates and nucleosynthesis depending on the depth at which collective transformation arises.

The development of a sensitive detector for neutrinos of astronomical origin (simply called astronomical neutrinos hereafter) would make possible detailed investigation of supernovae (SN) and open the way for the discovery of new astronomical phenomena. The neutrino weak interaction cross section at energies less than 100 MeV increases with Z due to correlated nucleon effects and the nuclear Coulomb factor (Fermi function). Therefore neutrino detection based on high Z materials will give the largest possible cross sections and best possible neutrino detection efficiency. This physics argument motivated us to study lead as a detector of SN. The neutrino cross section for neutron production on lead through the reaction Pb(νe,μ,τ, ln)X is ≈ 10-40 cm2, for energies up to 50 MeV, where X refers to Pb, Bi or Tl, the product nuclei of the reactions, l refers to the scattered lepton, and n refers to neutrons. Neutron production will occur for all types of neutrinos and the neutrons can be detected easily and efficiently. The detector is uniquely sensitive to all neutrinos but #x003BD;e. We show that a SN at the centre of the galaxy produces about 1000 neutrons in a 1 kiloton detector. This large number will make it possible to measure the mass of νμ and ντ neutrinos between 10 and 100 eV with a precision of 10 eV. Further, we describe a possible detector in which one also detects the associated electromagnetic energy in coincidence with the neutrons. The coincidence makes this detector essentially background free. It is possible to expand such a detector to a size which will reach SN well beyond our galaxy. We calculate the ν-Pb cross section, discuss the design, neutrino mass resolution, neutron detection efficiency and signal to noise ratio aspects of these detectors.

differences between the Majorana and Dirac cases. It is then proved that in spite of the theoretical differences between the two cases, as far as experiments are considered, they would be virtually indistinguishable for any space-time geometry satisfying the weak field condition. We then calculate the transition gravitational form factors for the neutrino by evaluating the relevant Feynman diagrams at 1-loop and estimate a neutrino transition mass radius. The form factor is seen to depend on the momentum transfer very weakly. It is also seen that the neutrino transition mass radius is smaller than the typical neutrino charge radius by a couple of orders of magnitude. In the final part of my thesis, some of the recent neutrino observations and anomalies are revisited, in the context of sterile neutrinos. Among our aims is to understand more clearly some of the analytic implications of the current global neutrino fits from short baseline experiments. Of particular interest to us are the neutrino disappearance measurements from MINOS and the recent indications of a possibly non-vanishing angle, theta13 , from T2K, MINOS and Double-CHOOZ. Based on a general parametrization motivated in the presence of sterile neutrinos, the consistency of the MINOS disappearance data with additional sterile neutrinos is discussed. We also explore the implications of sterile neutrinos for the measurement of | Umu3| in this case. We then turn our attention to the study of |Ue3| extraction in electronneutrino disappearance and appearance measurements. In particular, we study the effects of some of the additional CP phases that appear when there are sterile neutrinos. We observe that the existence of sterile neutrinos may induce a significant modification of the theta13 angle in neutrino appearance experiments like T2K and MINOS, over and above the ambiguities and degeneracies that are already present in 3-neutrino parameter extractions. There are reactor experiments, for instance those measuring nu

Since the discovery of nuclear beta decay, nuclear physicists have studied the weak interaction and the nature of neutrinos. Many recent and current experiments have been focused on the elucidation of neutrino oscillations and neutrino mass. The quest for the absolute value of neutrino mass continues with higher precision studies of the tritium beta decay spectrum near the endpoint. Neutrino oscillations are studied through measurements of reactor neutrinos as a function of baseline and energy. And experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta decay seek to discover violation of lepton number and establish the Majorana nature of neutrino masses.

The cosmic neutrino background is expected to consist of relic neutrinos from the big bang, of neutrinos produced during nuclear burning in stars, of neutrinos released by gravitational stellar collapse, and of neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions with matter and radiation in the interstellar and intergalactic medium. Formation of baryonic dark matter in the early universe, matter-antimatter annihilation in a baryonic symmetric universe, and dark matter annihilation could have also contributed significantly to the cosmic neutrino background. The purpose of this paper is to review the properties of these cosmic neutrino backgrounds, the indirect evidence for their existence, and the prospects for their detection.

There exist several kinds of sources emitting neutrinos in the MeV energy range. These low-energy neutrinos from different sources can be often detected by the same multipurpose detectors. The status-of-art of the field of solar neutrinos, geoneutrinos, and the search for sterile neutrino with artificial neutrino sources is provided here; other neutrino sources, as for example reactor or high-energy neutrinos, are described elsewhere. For each of these three fields, the present-day motivation and open questions, as well as the latest experimental results and future perspectives are discussed.

We study the impact of neutrino-pair production from the de-excitation of highly excited heavy nuclei on core-collapse supernova simulations, following the evolution up to several 100 ms after core bounce. Our study is based on the agile-boltztransupernova code, which features general relativistic radiation hydrodynamics and accurate three-flavor Boltzmann neutrino transport in spherical symmetry. In our simulations the nuclear de-excitation process is described in two different ways. At first we follow the approach proposed by Fuller and Meyer [Astrophys. J.AJLEEY0004-637X10.1086/170317 376, 701 (1991)], which is based on strength functions derived in the framework of the nuclear Fermi-gas model of noninteracting nucleons. Second, we parametrize the allowed and forbidden strength distributions in accordance with measurements for selected nuclear ground states. We determine the de-excitation strength by applying the Brink hypothesis and detailed balance. For both approaches, we find that nuclear de-excitation has no effect on the supernova dynamics. However, we find that nuclear de-excitation is the leading source for the production of electron antineutrinos as well as heavy-lepton-flavor (anti)neutrinos during the collapse phase. At sufficiently high densities, the associated neutrino spectra are influenced by interactions with the surrounding matter, making proper simulations of neutrino transport important for the determination of the neutrino-energy loss rate. We find that, even including nuclear de-excitations, the energy loss during the collapse phase is overwhelmingly dominated by electronneutrinos produced by electron capture.

We present a QCD analysis of the neutral current (NC) neutrino-nucleus interaction at the small-x region using the color dipole formalism. This phenomenological approach is quite successful in describing experimental results in deep inelastic ep scattering and charged current neutrino-nucleus interactions at high energies. We present theoretical predictions for the relevant structure functions and the corresponding implications for the total NC neutrino cross section. It is shown that at small x, the NC boson-nucleon cross section should exhibit the geometric scaling property that has important consequences for ultrahigh energy neutrino phenomenology.

During a black hole-neutron star merger, baryonic material can be dynamically ejected. Because this ejecta is extremely neutron-rich, the r-process rapidly synthesizes heavy nuclides as the material expands and cools. This can contribute to galactic chemical evolution of the r-process elements and lead to a short-lived optical transient, called a kilonova, powered by the radioactive decay of the heavy nuclides. We use the nuclear reaction network SkyNet to model r-process nucleosynthesis under varying levels of neutrino irradiation by post-processing tracer particles in the ejecta of a full numerical relativity simulation of a black hole-neutron star merger. We find the ejected material robustly produces the second and third r-process peaks, whose abundances remain unchanged even for very high neutrino luminosities, due to the rapid velocities of the outflow. Nonetheless, we find that neutrinos can have an impact on the detailed abundance pattern by significantly enhancing the amount of material produced in the first peak around A ~ 78 . Electronneutrinos are captured by neutrons to produce protons while neutron capture is occurring. These protons rapidly form low-mass seed nuclei, a fraction of which eventually ends up in the first peak after neutron capture ceases. Partially supported by NASA and NSF under AST-1205732, AST-1313091, AST-1333520, PF3-140114, PF4-150122, and PHY-1151197.

With a recent claim of superluminal neutrinos shown to be in error, 2012 may not be a propitious time to consider the evidence that one or more neutrinos may indeed be tachyons. Nevertheless, there are a growing number of observations that continue to suggest this possibility - albeit with an mν2<0 having a much smaller magnitude than was implied by the original OPERA claim. One recently published non-standard analysis of SN 1987A neutrinos supports a tachyonic mass eigenstate, and here we show how it leads to 3 + 3 mirror neutrino model having an unconventional mass hierarchy. The model incorporates one superluminal active-sterile neutrino pair, and it is testable in numerous ways, including making a surprising prediction about an unpublished aspect of the SN 1987A neutrinos. Additional supporting evidence involving earlier analyses of cosmic rays is summarized to add credence to the tachyonic neutrino hypothesis.

It is well-known that neutrino-electron scattering at low recoil energies provides sensitivity gain in constraining neutrinos’ magnetic moments and their possible milli-charges. However, in detectors with sub-keV thresholds, the binding effects of electrons become significant. In this talk, we present our recent works of applying ab initio calculations to germanium ionization by neutrinos at low energies. Compared with the conventional differential cross section formulae that were used to derive current experimental bounds, our results with less theoretical uncertainties set a more reliable bound on the neutrino magnetic moment and a more stringent bound on the neutrino milli-charge with current reactor antineutrino data taken from germanium detectors.

Modern proposed atmospheric neutrino oscillation experiments, such as PINGU in the Antarctic ice or ORCA in Mediterranean sea water, aim for precision measurements of the oscillation parameters including the ordering of the neutrino masses. They can, however, go far beyond that: Since neutrino oscillations are affected by the coherent forward scattering with matter, neutrinos can provide a new view on the interior of the earth. We show that the proposed atmospheric oscillation experiments can measure the lower mantle density of the earth with a precision at the level of a few percent, including the uncertainties of the oscillation parameters and correlations among different density layers. While the earth's core is, in principle, accessible by the angular resolution, new technology would be required to extract degeneracy-free information.

I will discuss two aspects of neutrino-nuclei interactions. First, how the knowledge of nuclear structure gained in electro-nuclear processes can help to improve the accuracies of neutrino interaction cross sections both in quasi-elastic and deep-inelastic kinematics. And secondly the potential of neutrino- nuclear scattering processes to study hadrons in the nuclear medium. One new direction of nuclear medium studies is the verification of the recent theoretical observation that protons are more energetic than neutrons in large A asymmetric nuclei. If the nuclear modification is related to the virtuality of bound nucleon then it follows from the above observation that proton structure modification should increase with nuclear asymmetry at large A. The possibility of selecting the protons from nuclear target gives an important advantage of neutrinos for probing such modifications.

the straight sections of the ring. Since the decay of the muon is well understood, the systematic uncertainties associated with a neutrino beam produced in this manner are very small. Beam diagnostics in the decay ring and a specially designed near detector further reduce the systematic uncertainties of the neutrino beam produced at the Neutrino Factory. In addition since the muon (anti-muon) decays produce both muon and anti-electronneutrinos (anti-muon and electronneutrinos), many oscillation channels are accessible from a Neutrino Factory, further extending the reach in the oscillation parameter space. Over the last decade there have been a number of studies [2-5] that have explored the discovery reach of Neutrino Factories in the small mixing angle, {theta}{sub 13}, and its capability to determine the mass hierarchy and determine if CP is violated in leptons through observation of phase parameter, {delta}. The most recent study to be completed [6], the International scoping study of a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility (the ISS), studied the physics capabilities of various future neutrino facilities: super-beam, {beta}-Beam and Neutrino Factory and has determined that the Neutrino Factory with an energy of {approx}25 GeV has the best discovery reach for small values of sin{sup 2}2{theta}{sub 13}, reaching an ultimate sensitivity of between 10{sup -5} and 10{sup -4}. However, for larger values of sin{sup 2}2{theta}{sub 13} (> 10{sup -3}), the sensitivity of other experimental approaches is competitive to that of the 25 GeV Neutrino Factory. The wide-band neutrino beam (WBB) produced at Fermilab and directed towards DUSEL [7] is one such competitor. For the case where sin{sup 2}2{theta}{sub 13} (> 10{sup -3}) is large, initial studies have shown that a Low-Energy Neutrino Factory [8-10] with an energy of, for example, 4 GeV, may be both cost-effective and offers exquisite sensitivity. The required baseline for a Low-Energy Neutrino Factory matches

Resonant annihilation of extremely high-energy cosmic neutrinos on big-bang relic anti-neutrinos (and vice versa) into Z-bosons leads to sizable absorption dips in the neutrino flux to be observed at Earth. The high-energy edges of these dips are fixed, via the resonance energies, by the neutrino masses alone. Their depths are determined by the cosmic neutrino background density, by the cosmological parameters determining the expansion rate of the universe, and by the large redshift history of the cosmic neutrino sources. We investigate the possibility of determining the existence of the cosmic neutrino background within the next decade from a measurement of these absorption dips in the neutrino flux. As a by-product, we study the prospects to infer the absolute neutrino mass scale. We find that, with the presently planned neutrino detectors (ANITA, Auger, EUSO, OWL, RICE, and SalSA) operating in the relevant energy regime above 10{sup 21} eV, relic neutrino absorption spectroscopy becomes a realistic possibility. It requires, however, the existence of extremely powerful neutrino sources, which should be opaque to nucleons and high-energy photons to evade present constraints. Furthermore, the neutrino mass spectrum must be quasi-degenerate to optimize the dip, which implies m{sub {nu}} 0.1 eV for the lightest neutrino. With a second generation of neutrino detectors, these demanding requirements can be relaxed considerably.

We have conducted a series of numerical experiments using spherically symmetric, general relativistic, neutrino radiation hydrodynamics with the code Agile-BOLTZTRAN to examine the effects of including, and improving, the calculation of neutrino opacities on the development of supernova simulations by removing, or replacing, each opacity individually, or removing opacities in groups. We find that during core collapse improvements to electron capture (EC) on nuclei, namely EC on an ensemble of nuclei based on the hybrid model, relative to the simpler independent-particle approximation (IPA) for a mean nucleus, plays the most important role of all tested neutrino opacities. Low-energy neutrinos emitted by nuclear EC preferentially escape during collapse leading to larger deleptonization of the collapsing core, without the energy downscattering via non-isoenergetic scattering (NIS) on electrons required for the models with IPA nuclear EC. During shock breakout the primary influence on the emergent neutrinos arises from NIS on electrons. For the accretion phase NIS on free nucleons and pair emission by $e^+e^-$-annihilation have the largest impact on the neutrino emission and shock evolution. Other opacities evaluated including nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and especially neutrino-positron scattering have little measurable impact on neutrino emission or shock dynamics. Modern treatments of nuclear electron capture, $e^+e^-$-annihilation pair emission, and non-isoenergetic scattering on electrons and free nucleons are critical elements of core-collapse simulations of all dimensionality.

We have conducted a series of numerical experiments using spherically symmetric, general relativistic, neutrino radiation hydrodynamics with the code Agile-BOLTZTRAN to examine the effects of modern neutrino opacities on the development of supernova simulations. We test the effects of opacities by removing opacities or by undoing opacity improvements for individual opacities and groups of opacities. We find that improvements to electron capture (EC) on nuclei, namely EC on an ensemble of nuclei using modern nuclear structure models rather than the simpler independent-particle approximation (IPA) for EC on a mean nucleus, plays the most important role during core collapse of all tested neutrino opacities. Low-energy neutrinos emitted by modern nuclear EC preferentially escape during collapse without the energy downscattering on electrons required to enhance neutrino escape and deleptonization for the models with IPA nuclear EC. During shock breakout the primary influence on the emergent neutrinos arises from non-isoenergetic scattering (NIS) on electrons. For the accretion phase, NIS on free nucleons and pair emission by e + e - annihilation have the largest impact on the neutrino emission and shock evolution. Other opacities evaluated, including nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and especially neutrino-positron scattering, have little measurable impact on neutrino emission or shock dynamics. Modern treatments of nuclear EC, e + e --annihilation pair emission, and NIS on electrons and free nucleons are critical elements of core-collapse simulations of all dimensionality.

We have conducted a series of numerical experiments using spherically symmetric, general relativistic, neutrino radiation hydrodynamics with the code Agile-BOLTZTRAN to examine the effects of modern neutrino opacities on the development of supernova simulations. We test the effects of opacities by removing opacities or by undoing opacity improvements for individual opacities and groups of opacities. We find that improvements to electron capture (EC) on nuclei, namely EC on an ensemble of nuclei using modern nuclear structure models rather than the simpler independent-particle approximation (IPA) for EC on a mean nucleus, plays the most important role during core collapse of all tested neutrino opacities. Low-energy neutrinos emitted by modern nuclear EC preferentially escape during collapse without the energy downscattering on electrons required to enhance neutrino escape and deleptonization for the models with IPA nuclear EC. During shock breakout the primary influence on the emergent neutrinos arises from non-isoenergetic scattering (NIS) on electrons. For the accretion phase, NIS on free nucleons and pair emission by e {sup +} e {sup -} annihilation have the largest impact on the neutrino emission and shock evolution. Other opacities evaluated, including nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and especially neutrino-positron scattering, have little measurable impact on neutrino emission or shock dynamics. Modern treatments of nuclear EC, e {sup +} e {sup -}-annihilation pair emission, and NIS on electrons and free nucleons are critical elements of core-collapse simulations of all dimensionality.

MINERνA (Main INjector Experiment for ν-A) is a neutrinoscattering experiment in the NuMI high-intensity neutrino beam at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. MINERvA was designed to make precision measurements of low energy neutrino and antineutrino cross sections on a variety of different materials (plastic scintillator, C, Fe, Pb, He and H2O). We present the current status of the charged current quasi-elastic scattering in plastic scintillator.

This is an extension of estimates of the probability of μ to e neutrino oscillation with one sterile neutrino to three sterile neutrinos, using a 6x6 matrix. Since the mixing angle for only one sterile neutrino has been experimentally determined, we estimate the μ to e neutrino oscillation probability with different mixing angles for two of the sterile neutrinos.

The transition magnetic moment of a sterile neutrino can give rise to its conversion to an active neutrino through radiative decay or nonstandard interaction (NSI) with matter. For sterile neutrinos of keV-mass as dark matter candidates, their decay signals are actively searched for in cosmic x-ray spectra. In this work, we consider the NSI that leads to atomic ionization, which can be detected by direct dark matter experiments. It is found that this inelastic scattering process for a nonrelativistic sterile neutrino has a pronounced enhancement in the differential cross section at energy transfer about half of its mass, manifesting experimentally as peaks in the measurable energy spectra. The enhancement effects gradually smear out as the sterile neutrino becomes relativistic. Using data taken with low-threshold low-background germanium detectors, constraints on sterile neutrino mass and its transition magnetic moment are derived and compared with those from astrophysical observations.

The possibility of observing supernova (SN) neutrinos through the process of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CENNS) in future ton scale detectors designed primarily for direct detection of dark matter is investigated. In particular, we focus on the possibility of distinguishing the various phases of the SN neutrino emission. The neutrino emission rates from the recent long-term Basel/Darmstadt simulations are used to calculate the expected event rates. The recent state-of-the-art SN simulations predict closer fluxes among different neutrino flavors and lower average energies compared to the earlier simulation models. The estimated total event rates are found to be typically a factor of 2 lower than those predicted using older simulation models. We find that future 1-ton class Xe detectors will be able to detect neutrinos from a SN at a distance of 10 kpc provided they have relatively low nuclear recoil energy thresholds of ≲1 keV. At the same time, with an optimistic threshold of ˜1 keV, demarcating the neutrinos associated with the accretion phase of a SN at 10 kpc from the Earth will require 10-ton class Xe detectors, while distinguishing the neutrinos associated with the neutronization burst phase of the explosion would typically require several tens of ton detectors. We also comment on the possibility of studying the properties of nonelectron flavor neutrinos from the CENNS of SN neutrinos.

Nuclear effects on neutrino reactions are expected to be a significant complication in current and future neutrino oscillation experiments seeking precision measurements of neutrino flavor transitions. Calculations of these nuclear effects are hampered by a lack of experimental data comparing neutrino reactions on free nucleons to neutrino reactions on nuclei. We present results from a novel technique that compares neutrino and antineutrino charged current quasielastic scattering on hydrocarbons to extract a cross section ratio of antineutrino charged current elastic reactions on free protons to charged current quasielastic reactions on the protons bound in a carbon nucleus. This measurement of nuclear effects is compared to models.

Neutrino oscillations provide the first evidence for physics beyond the Standard Model. I will briefly overview the neutrino "hi-story", describing key discoveries over the past decades that shaped our understanding of neutrinos and their behavior. Fermilab was, is and hopefully will be at the forefront of the accelerator neutrino experiments. NuMI, the most powerful accelerator neutrino beam in the world has ushered us into the era of precise measurements. Its further upgrades may give a chance to tackle the remaining mysteries of the neutrino mass hierarchy and possible CP violation.

Experimental studies of neutrino properties, with particular emphasis on neutrino oscillation, mass and mixing parameters. This research was pursued by means of underground detectors for reactor anti-neutrinos, measuring the flux and energy spectra of the neutrinos. More recent investigations have been aimed and developing detector technologies for a long-baseline neutrino experiment (LBNE) using a neutrino beam from Fermilab.

Most treatments of neutrino flavor evolution, above a surface of the last scattering, take identical angular distributions on this surface for the different initial (unmixed) flavors, and for particles and antiparticles. Differences in these distributions must be present, as a result of the species-dependent scattering cross sections lower in the star. These lead to a new set of nonlinear equations, unstable even at the initial surface with respect to perturbations that break all-over spherical symmetry. There could be important consequences for explosion dynamics as well as for the neutrino pulse in the outer regions. PMID:26967405

The flavor of cosmic neutrinos may help unveil their sources and could reveal the presence of new physics in the neutrino sector. We consider impacts of next-generation neutrino detectors, including the planned upgrade to neutrino detector, IceCube-Gen2, which is well positioned to make dramatic improvements in both flavor and spectral measurements. We show that various models in neutrino physics beyond the Standard Model, such as neutrino decay, pseudo-Dirac states, and neutrino self-scattering, may be found or strongly constrained at IceCube-Gen2 and Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope. We find that the additional flavor discriminants given by Glashow resonance events and so-called "double-bang" topologies improve the ability to access the flavor of the cosmic high-energy neutrinos and probe the beyond the Standard Model physics. In addition, although details depend on source properties, Glashow resonance events have the additional feature of being able to inform us of the relative strengths of neutrino and antineutrino emission, which may help us discriminate astrophysical scenarios.

Evidence for an extraterrestrial flux of high-energy neutrinos has now been found in multiple searches with the IceCube detector. The first solid evidence was provided by a search for neutrino events with deposited energies ≳ 30 TeV and interaction vertices inside the instrumented volume. Recent analyses suggest that the extraterrestrial flux extends to lower energies and is also visible with throughgoing, νμ-induced tracks from the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we combine the results from six different IceCube searches for astrophysical neutrinos in a maximum-likelihood analysis. The combined event sample features high-statistics samples of shower-like and track-like events. The data are fit in up to three observables: energy, zenith angle, and event topology. Assuming the astrophysical neutrino flux to be isotropic and to consist of equal flavors at Earth, the all-flavor spectrum with neutrino energies between 25 TeV and 2.8 PeV is well described by an unbroken power law with best-fit spectral index -2.50 ± 0.09 and a flux at 100 TeV of ({6.7}-1.2+1.1)× {10}-18 {{GeV}}-1 {{{s}}}-1 {{sr}}-1 {{cm}}-2. Under the same assumptions, an unbroken power law with index -2 is disfavored with a significance of 3.8σ (p = 0.0066%) with respect to the best fit. This significance is reduced to 2.1σ (p = 1.7%) if instead we compare the best fit to a spectrum with index -2 that has an exponential cut-off at high energies. Allowing the electron-neutrino flux to deviate from the other two flavors, we find a νe fraction of 0.18 ± 0.11 at Earth. The sole production of electronneutrinos, which would be characteristic of neutron-decay-dominated sources, is rejected with a significance of 3.6σ (p = 0.014%).

In this presentation I summarize the main detection channels for neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae, and describe current status of and future prospects for supernova-neutrino-sensitive detectors worldwide.

A summary of the results of the Brookhaven solar neutrino experiment is given and discussed in relation to solar model calculations. A review is given of the merits of various new solar neutrino detectors that were proposed.

If light sterile neutrinos exist and mix with the active neutrino flavors, this mixing will affect the propagation of high-energy neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Sun. In particular, new Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein resonances can occur, leading to almost complete conversion of some active neutrino flavors into sterile states. We demonstrate how this can weaken IceCube limits on neutrino capture and annihilation in the Sun and how potential future conflicts between IceCube constraints and direct detection or collider data might be resolved by invoking sterile neutrinos. We also point out that, if the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section and the allowed annihilation channels are precisely measured in direct detection and collider experiments in the future, IceCube can be used to constrain sterile neutrino models using neutrinos from the dark matter annihilation.

Observations of geo-neutrinos measure radiogenic heat production within the earth, providing information on the thermal history and dynamic processes of the mantle. Two detectors currently observe geo-neutrinos from underground locations. Other detection projects in various stages of development include a deep ocean observatory. This paper presents the current status of geo-neutrino observation and describes the scientific capabilities of the deep ocean observatory, with emphasis on geology and neutrino physics.

To complement the neutrino-physics lectures given at the 2011 International School on Astro Particle Physics devoted to Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics (ISAPP 2011; Varenna, Italy), at the 2011 European School of High Energy Physics (ESHEP 2011; Cheila Gradistei, Romania), and, in modified form, at other summer schools, we present here a written description of the physics of neutrino oscillation. This description is centered on a new way of deriving the oscillation probability. We also provide a brief guide to references relevant to topics other than neutrino oscillation that were covered in the lectures. Neutrinos and photons are by far the most abundant elementary particles in the universe. Thus, if we would like to comprehend the universe, we must understand the neutrinos. Of course, studying the neutrinos is challenging, since the only known forces through which these electrically-neutral leptons interact are the weak force and gravity. Consequently, interactions of neutrinos in a detector are very rare events, so that very large detectors and intense neutrino sources are needed to make experiments feasible. Nevertheless, we have confirmed that the weak interactions of neutrinos are correctly described by the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particle physics. Moreover, in the last 14 years, we have discovered that neutrinos have nonzero masses, and that leptons mix. These discoveries have been based on the observation that neutrinos can change from one 'flavor' to another - the phenomenon known as neutrino oscillation. We shall explain the physics of neutrino oscillation, deriving the probability of oscillation in a new way. We shall also provide a very brief guide to references that can be used to study some major neutrino-physics topics other than neutrino oscillation.

We consider leptogenesis in scenarios with many neutrino singlets. We find that the lower bound for the reheating temperature can be significantly relaxed with respect to the hierarchical three neutrino case. We further argue that the upper bound for the neutrino mass scale from leptogenesis gets significantly lifted in these scenarios. As a specific realization, we then discuss an extradimensional model, where the large number of neutrinos is provided by Kaluza-Klein excitations.

The volume covers categories on inelastic neutrinoscattering and the W-boson, and other ultra-high-energy processes, on pulsars, quasars and galactic nuclei, as well as other point sources and constants from gamma ray astronomy. Individual subjects include weak intermediate vector bosons and DUMAND, the Monte Carlo simulation of inelastic neutrinoscattering in DUMAND, and Higgs boson production by very high-energy neutrinos. The observability of the neutrino flux from the inner region of the galactic disk, the diffuse fluxes of high-energy neutrinos, as well as the significance of gamma ray observations for neutrino astronomy are also among the topics covered.

Neutrinoscattering experiments have been studying QCD for over 30 years. From the Gargamelle experiments in the early 70's, through the subsequent bubble chamber and electronic detector experiments in the 80's and 90's, neutrinoscattering experiments have steadily accumulated increasing statistics and minimized their systematic errors. While the most recent study of QCD with neutrinos is from the TeVatron neutrino beam (the NuTeV experiment with results presented by Martin Tzanov at this Workshop), near-future studies will shift to the Main Injector based NuMI facility also at Fermilab. The NuMI Facility at Fermilab provides an extremely intense beam of neutrinos making it an ideal place for high statistics (anti)neutrino-nucleon/nucleus scattering experiments. The MINERvA experiment at Fermilab is a collaboration of elementary-particle and nuclear physicists planning to use a fully active fine-grained solid scintillator detector to measure absolute exclusive cross-sections and nuclear effects in v - A interactions as well as a systematic study of the resonance-DIS transition region and DIS with an emphasis on the extraction of high-xBj parton distribution functions. Further in the future an intense proton source, the Fermilab Proton Driver, will increase neutrino interaction rates by a further factor of 5-20.

Neutrinos are produced in several neutrino nuclear reactions of the proton-proton chain and carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle that take place at different radii of the Sun's core. Hence, measurements of solar neutrino fluxes provide a precise determination of the local temperature. The accumulation of non-annihilating light dark matter particles (with masses between 5 GeV and 16 GeV) in the Sun produces a change in the local solar structure, namely, a decrease in the central temperature of a few percent. This variation depends on the properties of the dark matter particles, such as the mass of the particle and its spin-independent scattering cross-section on baryon-nuclei, specifically, the scattering with helium, oxygen, and nitrogen among other heavy elements. This temperature effect can be measured in almost all solar neutrino fluxes. In particular, by comparing the neutrino fluxes generated by stellar models with current observations, namely {sup 8}B neutrino fluxes, we find that non-annihilating dark matter particles with a mass smaller than 10 GeV and a spin-independent scattering cross-section with heavy baryon-nuclei larger than 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -37} cm{sup -2} produce a variation in the {sup 8}B neutrino fluxes that would be in conflict with current measurements.

The neutrino physics is one of the most important research field and there are several experiments made and under construction focused on it. This paper will present a review on some detectors used for Solar Neutrinos detection, Atmospheric Neutrinos detection and in Long Baseline Experiments.

Neutrino physics with the OPERA experiment will be discussed in this paper. First the OPERA physic goal will be presented. A description of the neutrino beam and of the detector will follow. The analysis of the beam induced neutrino interactions will then be presented.

The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) produces an intense muon neutrino beam used by the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS), a neutrino oscillation experiment, and the Main INjector ExpeRiment v-A, (MINERv A), a neutrino interaction experiment. Absolute neutrino cross sections are determined via σv = N v/Φv , where the numerator is the measured number of neutrino interactions in the MINOS Detector and the denominator is the flux of incident neutrinos. Many past neutrino experiments have measured relative cross sections due to a lack of precise measurements of the incident neutrino flux, normalizing to better established reaction processes, such as quasielastic neutrino-nucleon scattering. But recent measurements of neutrino interactions on nuclear targets have brought to light questions about our understanding of nuclear effects in neutrino interactions. In this thesis the vμ inclusive charged current cross section on iron is measured using the MINOS Detector. The MINOS detector consists of alternating planes of steel and scintillator. The MINOS detector is optimized to measure muons produced in charged current vμ interactions. Along with muons, these interactions produce hadronic showers. The neutrino energy is measured from the total energy the particles deposit in the detector. The incident neutrino flux is measured using the muons produced alongside the neutrinos in meson decay. Three ionization chamber monitors located in the downstream portion of the NuMI beamline are used to measure the muon flux and thereby infer the neutrino flux by relation to the underlying pion and kaon meson flux. This thesis describes the muon flux instrumentation in the NuMI beam, its operation over the two year duration of this measurement, and the techniques used to derive the neutrino flux.

Uncertainties in modeling neutrino-nucleus interactions are a major contribution to systematic errors in long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. Accurate modeling of neutrino interactions requires additional experimental observables such as the Adler angles which carry information about the polarization of the Δ resonance and the interference with nonresonant single pion production. The Adler angles were measured with limited statistics in bubble chamber neutrino experiments as well as in electron-proton scattering experiments. We discuss the viability of measuring these angles in neutrino interactions with nuclei.

A time-energy correlation method has been developed to determine the signature of a nonzero neutrino mass in a small sample of neutrinos detected from a distant source. The method is applied to the Kamiokande II (Hirata et al., 1987) and IMB (Bionta et al., 1987) observations of neutrino bursts from SN 1987A. Using the Kamiokande II data, the neutrino rest mass is estimated at 2.8 + 2.0, - 1.4 eV and the initial neutrino pulse is found to be less than 0.3 sec full width, followed by an emission tail lasting at least 10 sec.

Neutrino flavor oscillation experiments have demonstrated that the three Standard Model neutrino flavor eigenstates are mixed with three mass eigenstates whose mass eigenvalues are nondegenerate. The oscillation experiments measure the differences between the squares of the mass eigenvalues but tell us nothing about their absolute values. The unknown absolute neutrino mass scale has important implications in particle physics and cosmology. Beta decay endpoint measurements are presented as a model-independent method to measure the absolute neutrino mass. The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) is explored in detail.

Neutrinos play the critical roles in nucleosynthesis of light-to-heavy mass nuclei in core-collapse supernovae. We study the nucleosynthesis induced by neutrino interactions and find suitable average neutrino temperatures in order to explain the observed solar system abundances of several isotopes {sup 7}Li, {sup 11}B, {sup 138}La and {sup 180}Ta. These isotopes are predominantly synthesized by the supernova {nu}-process. We also study the neutrino oscillation effects on their abundances and propose a method to determine the unknown neutrino oscillation parameters, i.e. {theta}{sub 13} and mass hierarchy.

The great penetrating power of neutrinos makes them ideal probe of astrophysical sites and conditions inaccessible to other forms of radiation. These are the centers of stars (collapsing or not) and the centers of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). It has been suggested that AGN presented a very promising source of high energy neutrinos, possibly detectable by underwater neutrino detectors. This paper reviews the evolution of ideas concerning the emission of neutrinos from AGN in view of the more recent developments in gamma-ray astronomy and their implications for the neutrino emission from these class of objects.

The relevant parameters for the site choice of an underwater neutrino's telescope are discussed. The in situ measurement of the scattering distribution of the cherenkov light requires a suitable experimental setup. Its main features are described here.

A Letter of Intent has been submitted by a new International Team to pursue an accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino experiment, as well as neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay, with an approximately 40-kt (fiducial) modular liquid argon TPC (LAr-TPC) detector located deep underground and a high-resolution near detector. Several independent worldwide efforts, developed through years of detailed studies, are converging around the opportunity provided by the megawatt neutrino beam facility planned at Fermilab and by the new significant expansion with improved access at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, 1,300 km from Fermilab. The principle goals of this experiment are: a comprehensive investigation of neutrino oscillations to test CP violation in the lepton sector, determine the ordering of the neutrino masses, and test the three-neutrino paradigm; to perform a broad set of neutrinoscattering measurements with the near detector; and to exploit the large, high-resolution, underground far detector for non-accelerator physics topics including atmospheric neutrino measurements, searches for nucleon decay, and measurement of astrophysical neutrinos especially those from a core-collapse supernova.

Precision measurements of solar neutrinos emitted by specific nuclear reaction chains in the Sun are of great interest for developing an improved understanding of star formation and evolution. Given the expected neutrino fluxes and known detection reactions, such measurements require detectors capable of collecting neutrino-electron scattering data in exposures on the order of 1 ktonne-yr, with good energy resolution and extremely low background. Two-phase liquid argon time projection chambers (LAr TPCs) are under development for direct Dark Matter WIMP searches, which possess very large sensitive mass, high scintillation light yield, good energy resolution, and good spatial resolution in all three cartesian directions. While enabling Dark Matter searches with sensitivity extending to the ``neutrino floor'' (given by the rate of nuclear recoil events from solar neutrino coherent scattering), such detectors could also enable precision measurements of solar neutrino fluxes using the neutrino-electron elastic scattering events. Modeling results are presented for the cosmogenic and radiogenic backgrounds affecting solar neutrino detection in a 300 tonne (100 tonne fiducial) LAr TPC operating at LNGS depth (3,800 meters of water equivalent). The results show that such a detector could measure the CNO neutrino rate with ~15% precision, and significantly improve the precision of the 7Be and pep neutrino rates compared to the currently available results from the Borexino organic liquid scintillator detector.

Neutrinos are a nearly massless, neutral particle in the Standard Model that only interact via the weak interaction. Experimental confirmation of neutrino oscillations, in which a neutrino created as a particular type (electron, muon or tau) can be observed as a different type after propagating some distance, earned the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics. Neutrino oscillation experiments rely on accurate measurements of neutrino interactions with matter, such as that presented here. Neutrinos also provide a unique probe of the nucleus, complementary to electron scattering experiments. This thesis presents a measurement of the charged-current inclusive cross section for muon neutrinos and antineutrinos in the energy range 2 to 50 GeV with the MINERvA detector. MINERvA is a neutrinoscattering experiment in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab, near Chicago. A cross section measures the probability of an interaction occurring, measured here as a function of neutrino energy. To extract a cross section from data, the observed rate of interactions is corrected for detector efficiency and divided by the number of scattering nucleons in the target and the flux of neutrinos in the beam. The neutrino flux is determined with the low-$\

A nearby core collapse supernova will produce a burst of neutrinos in several detectors worldwide. With reasonably high probability, the Earth will shadow the neutrino flux in one or more detectors. In such a case, for allowed oscillation parameter scenarios, the observed neutrino energy spectrum will bear the signature of oscillations in Earth matter. Because the frequency of the oscillations in energy depends on the path length traveled by the neutrinos in the Earth, an observed spectrum also contains information about the direction to the supernova. We explore here the possibility of constraining the supernova location using matter oscillation patterns observed in a detector. Good energy resolution (typical of scintillator detectors), well-known oscillation parameters, and optimistically large (but conceivable) statistics are required. Pointing by this method can be significantly improved using multiple detectors located around the globe. Although it is not competitive with neutrino-electron elastic scattering-based pointing with water Cherenkov detectors, the technique could still be useful.

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a 20 kton multi-purpose underground liquid scintillator detector, was proposed with the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy (MH) as a primary physics goal. The excellent energy resolution and the large fiducial volume anticipated for the JUNO detector offer exciting opportunities for addressing many important topics in neutrino and astro-particle physics. In this document, we present the physics motivations and the anticipated performance of the JUNO detector for various proposed measurements. Following an introduction summarizing the current status and open issues in neutrino physics, we discuss how the detection of antineutrinos generated by a cluster of nuclear power plants allows the determination of the neutrino MH at a 3-4σ significance with six years of running of JUNO. The measurement of antineutrino spectrum with excellent energy resolution will also lead to the precise determination of the neutrino oscillation parameters {{sin}}2{θ }12, {{Δ }}{m}212, and | {{Δ }}{m}{ee}2| to an accuracy of better than 1%, which will play a crucial role in the future unitarity test of the MNSP matrix. The JUNO detector is capable of observing not only antineutrinos from the power plants, but also neutrinos/antineutrinos from terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources, including supernova burst neutrinos, diffuse supernova neutrino background, geoneutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, and solar neutrinos. As a result of JUNO's large size, excellent energy resolution, and vertex reconstruction capability, interesting new data on these topics can be collected. For example, a neutrino burst from a typical core-collapse supernova at a distance of 10 kpc would lead to ˜5000 inverse-beta-decay events and ˜2000 all-flavor neutrino-proton ES events in JUNO, which are of crucial importance for understanding the mechanism of supernova explosion and for exploring novel phenomena such as collective neutrino oscillations

Neutrinos constitute a unique probe since they escape from their sources, travel undisturbed on cosmological distances and are produced in high-energy (HE) hadronic processes. In particular they would allow a direct detection and unambiguous identification of the acceleration sites of HE baryonic cosmic rays (CR), which remain unknown. Recent results from the ICECUBE collaboration present the first highly significant indication for the detection of high-energy extraterrestrial neutrinos, after several decades of instrumental efforts. We briefly report on this important results which open the route for the high-energy neutrino astronomy era. We then focus on the ANTARES detector, which despite its modest size with respect to ICECUBE is the largest deep-sea neutrino telescope in the world. The primary goal is to search for astrophysical neutrinos in the TeV-PeV range. This comprises generic searches for any diffuse cosmic neutrino flux as well as more specific searches for astrophysical sources such as active galactic nuclei or Galactic sources. The search program also includes multi-messenger analyses based on time and/or space coincidences with other cosmic probes. The ANTARES observatory is sensitive to a wide-range of other phenomena, from atmospheric neutrino oscillations to dark matter annihilation or potential exotics such as nuclearites and magnetic monopoles. The most recent results are reported.

The authors present a design for a multi-detector long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment at the BNL AGS. It has been approved by the BNL-HENP-PAC as AGS Experiment 889. The experiment will search for oscillations in the {nu}{sub {mu}}, disappearance channel and the {nu}{sub {mu}} {leftrightarrow} {nu}{sub e} appearance channel by means of four identical neutrino detectors located 1, 3, 24, and 68km from the AGS neutrino source. Observed depletion of the {nu}{sub {mu}} flux (via quasi-elastic muon neutrino events, {nu}{sub {mu}}n {yields} {mu}{sup {minus}}p) in the far detectors not attended by an observed proportional increase of the {nu}{sub e} flux (via quasi-elastic electronneutrino events, {nu}{sub e}n {yields} e{sup {minus}}p) in those detectors will be prima facie evidence for the oscillation channel {nu}{sub {mu}} {leftrightarrow} {nu}{sub {tau}}. The experiment is directed toward exploration of the region of the neutrino oscillation parameters {Delta}m{sup 2} and sin{sup 2}2{theta}, suggested by the Kamiokande and IMB deep underground detectors but it will also explore a region more than two orders of magnitude larger than that of previous accelerator experiments. The experiment will run in a mode new to BNL. It will receive the fast extracted proton beam on the neutrino target approximately 20 hours per day when the AGS is not filling RHIC. A key aspect of the experimental design involves placing the detectors 1.5 degrees off the center line of the neutrino beam, which has the important advantage that the central value of the neutrino energy ({approx} 1 GeV) and the beam spectral shape are, to a good approximation, the same in all four detectors. The proposed detectors are massive, imaging, water Cherenkov detectors similar in large part to the Kamiokande and IMB detectors. The design has profited from their decade-long experience, and from the detector designs of the forthcoming SNO and SuperKamiokande detectors.

The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment designed to measure properties of neutrino oscillation. Using a high intensity muon neutrino beam, produced by the Neutrinos at Main Injector (NuMI) complex at Fermilab, MINOS makes two measurements of neutrino interactions. The first measurement is made using the Near Detector situated at Fermilab and the second is made using the Far Detector located in the Soudan Underground laboratory in northern Minnesota. The primary goal of MINOS is to verify, and measure the properties of, neutrino oscillation between the two detectors using the v μ→ Vτ transition. A complementary measurement can be made to search for the existence of sterile neutrinos; an oft theorized, but experimentally unvalidated particle. The following thesis will show the results of a sterile neutrino search using MINOS RunI and RunII data totaling ~2.5 x 1020 protons on target. Due to the theoretical nature of sterile neutrinos, complete formalism that covers transition probabilities for the three known active states with the addition of a sterile state is also presented.

The physics of nonscaling components in the region of low energy transfer (low-y region) is described. The following neutrino-induced processes were considered: resonance production, quasielastic scattering, and coherent meson production off nuclei or nuclear fragments. It is shown that the total exclusive cross section in a certain kinematical domain is energy independent at high energies (above 20 GeV). This fact can, in principle, be used for relative normalization of the neutrino flux.

A compilation is made of the various ways in which quantum phenomena enter into the design and operation of a neutrino factory. They include production of pions, decay of pions into muons, ionization energy loss of muons in material, scattering and energy straggling of muons in material, polarization of muons, and the decay of muons into neutrinos, and the radiation effect of neutrinos. For each process formulas are presented which cover the basic mechanism. A discussion is presented of the areas of uncertainty and of the experiments, underway and proposed, which will reduce the uncertainty to an acceptable level.

To foresee a solar flare neutrino signal we infer its upper and lower bound. The upper bound was derived since a few years by general energy equipartition arguments on observed solar particle flare. The lower bound, the most compelling one for any guarantee neutrino signal, is derived by most recent records of hard Gamma bump due to solar flare on January 2005 (by neutral pion decay). Because neutral and charged pions (made by hadron scattering in the flare) are born on the same foot, their link is compelling: the observed gamma flux [Grechnev V.V. et al., arXiv:0806.4424, Solar Physics, Vol. 1, October, (2008), 252] reflects into a corresponding one for the neutrinos, almost one to one. Moreover while gamma photons might be absorbed (in deep corona) or at least reduced inside the flaring plasma, the secondaries neutrino are not. So pion neutrinos should be even more abundant than gamma ones. Tens-hundred MeV neutrinos may cross undisturbed the whole Sun, doubling at least their rate respect a unique solar-side for gamma flare. Therefore we obtain minimal bounds opening a windows for neutrino astronomy, already at the edge of present but quite within near future Megaton neutrino detectors. Such detectors are considered mostly to reveal cosmic supernova background or rare Local Group (few Mpc) Supernovas events [Matthew D. Kistler et al. 0810.1959v1]. However rarest (once a decade), brief (a few minutes) powerful solar neutrino “flare” may shine and they may overcome by two to three order of magnitude the corresponding steady atmospheric neutrino noise on the Earth, leading in largest Neutrino detector at least to one or to meaning-full few events clustered signals. The voice of such a solar anti-neutrino flare component at a few tens MeVs may induce an inverse beta decay over a vanishing anti-neutrino solar background. Megaton or even inner ten Megaton Ice Cube detector at ten GeV threshold may also reveal traces in hardest energy of solar flares. Icecube

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is the first heavy water Cerenkov solar neutrino detector. 1000 metric tonnes of heavy water is used as a neutrino target and detection medium. SNO is designed to measure the flux and energy spectrum of high energy solar electronneutrinos via charged current interactions of electronneutrinos with deuterons in the heavy water. SNO can also measure the total high energy solar neutrino flux of neutrinos of all flavors via neutral current interactions with deuterons. The physics of solar models and solar neutrinos is presented. The physics of SNO and the SNO detector are described in detail. Two sonoluminescence sources were developed for use in calibrations of the SNO detector. The sonoluminescence source outperformed the standard SNO optical source, a nitrogen laser with a diffuser ball, by 25% in measurements of photomultiplier tube timing accuracy. Two systematic effects with the SNO electronics were discovered. Electronic crosstalk between channels has been measured for charges greater than 5 photoelectrons. An efficient cut has been developed to minimize this systematic error with an upper limit on signal loss of 0.4% times the PMT occupancy. Electronics crosstalk will affect solar neutrino analyses as it falsely adds PMT hits to some fraction of the events. A small anticorrelation of photomultiplier charges for electronics channels in close proximity has been measured. It has been shown that this subtle effect does not affect the number of photons detected, only the photomultiplier charges. A SL source and the SNO detector were used to study three properties of sonoluminescence. An analysis of SL data with regard to back-to-back photon correlations is presented. The results are consistent with no back-to- back photon correlations with an upper limit on the strength of back-to-back photon correlations of 3.16% for unfiltered SL light, and 0.5% for filtered SL light (λ = 420 nm) at the 95% confidence level. The SL photon

Recently a hybrid method has been introduced to determine neutrino mass hierarchy by simultaneous measurements of detector responses induced by antineutrino and neutrino fluxes from accretion and cooling phase of type II supernova. The (anti)neutrino-nucleus cross sections for 12C, 16O, 56Fe and 208Pb are calculated in the framework of relativistic nuclear energy density functional and weak interaction Hamiltonian, while the cross sections for inelastic scattering on free protons in mineral oil and water, p (v¯e,e+)n are obtained using heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory. The simulations of (anti)neutrino fluxes emitted from a proto-neutron star in a core-collapse supernova include collective and Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effects inside star. It is shown that simultaneous use of ve/v¯e detectors with different target material allow to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy from the ratios of ve/v¯e induced particle emissions. The hybrid method favors detectors with heavier target nuclei (208Pb) for the neutrino sector, while for antineutrinos the use of free protons in mineral oil and water is more appropriate.

More than 40 years ago, neutrinos where conceived as a way to test the validity of the solar models which tell us that stars are powered by nuclear fusion reactions. The first measurement of the neutrino flux, in 1968 in the Homestake mine in South Dakota, detected only one third of the expected value, originating what has been known as the Solar Neutrino Problem. Different experiments were built in order to understand the origin of this discrepancy. Now we know that neutrinos undergo oscillation phenomenon changing their nature traveling from the core of the Sun to our detectors. In the work the 40 year long saga of the neutrino detection is presented; from the first proposals to test the solar models to last real time measurements of the low energy part of the neutrino spectrum.

Despite the theory of neutrino oscillations being rather old, some of its basic issues are still being debated in the literature. We discuss a number of such issues, including the relevance of the 'same energy' and 'same momentum' assumptions, the role of quantum-mechanical uncertainty relations in neutrino oscillations, the dependence of the coherence and localization conditions that ensure the observability of neutrino oscillations on neutrino energy and momentum uncertainties, the question of (in)dependence of the oscillation probabilities on the neutrino production and detection processes, and the applicability limits of the stationary-source approximation. We also develop a novel approach to calculation of the oscillation probability in the wave-packet approach, based on the summation/integration conventions different from the standard one, which allows a new insight into the 'same energy' vs. 'same momentum' problem. We also discuss a number of apparently paradoxical features of the theory of neutrino oscillations.

High-energy neutrino astronomy has grown up, with IceCube as one of its main experiments having sufficient sensitivity to test "vanilla" models of astrophysical neutrinos. I review predictions of neutrino fluxes as well as the status of cosmic ray physics. I comment also briefly on an improvement of the Fermi-LAT limit for cosmogenic neutrinos and on the two neutrino events presented by IceCube first at "Neutrino 2012".

The study of neutrino interactions has recently experienced a renaissance, motivated by the fact that neutrino oscillation experiments depend critically on an accurate models of neutrino interactions. These models have to predict not only the signal and background populations that oscillation experiments see at near and far detectors, but they must also predict how the neutrino's energy which enters a nucleus gets transferred to energies of the particles that leave the nucleus after the neutrino interacts. Over the past year there have been a number of new results on many different neutrino (and antineutrino) interaction channels using several different target nuclei. These results are often not in agreement with predictions extraolated from charged lepton scattering measurements, or even from predictions anchored to neutrino measurements on deuterium. These new measurements are starting to give the community the handles needed to improve the theoretical description of neutrino interactions, which ultimately pave the way for precision oscillation measurements. This report briefly summarizes recent results and points out where those results differ from the predictions based on current models.

The next generation of dark matter direct detection experiments will be sensitive to both coherent neutrino-nucleus and neutrino-electron scattering. This will enable them to explore aspects of solar physics, perform the lowest energy measurement of the weak angle sin2 θ W to date, and probe contributions from new theories with light mediators. In this article, we compute the projected nuclear and electron recoil rates expected in several dark matter direct detection experiments due to solar neutrinos, and use these estimates to quantify errors on future measurements of the neutrino fluxes, weak mixing angle and solar observables, as well as to constrain new physics in the neutrino sector. Our analysis shows that the combined rates of solar neutrino events in second generation experiments (SuperCDMS and LZ) can yield a measurement of the pp flux to 2.5% accuracy via electron recoil, and slightly improve the 8B flux determination. Assuming a low-mass argon phase, projected tonne-scale experiments like DARWIN can reduce the uncertainty on both the pp and boron-8 neutrino fluxes to below 1%. Finally, we use current results from LUX, SuperCDMS and CDMSlite to set bounds on new interactions between neutrinos and electrons or nuclei, and show that future direct detection experiments can be used to set complementary constraints on the parameter space associated with light mediators.

The GiBUU model, which implements all reaction channels relevant at medium neutrino energy, is used to investigate the neutrino and antineutrino scattering on iron. Results for integrated cross sections are compared with NOMAD and MINOS data. It is shown, that final state interaction can noticeably change the spectra of the outgoing hadrons. Predictions for the Miner{nu}a experiment are made for pion spectra, averaged over NuMI neutrino and antineutrino fluxes.

What is the form of the neutrino mass matrix which governs the oscillations of the atmospheric and solar neutrinos? Features of the data have led to a dominant viewpoint where the mass matrix has an ordered, regulated pattern, perhaps dictated by a flavor symmetry. We challenge this viewpoint and demonstrate that the data are well accounted for by a neutrino mass matrix which appears to have random entries.

What is the form of the neutrino mass matrix which governs the oscillations of the atmospheric and solar neutrinos? Features of the data have led to a dominant viewpoint where the mass matrix has an ordered, regulated pattern, perhaps dictated by a flavor symmetry. We challenge this viewpoint and demonstrate that the data are well accounted for by a neutrino mass matrix which appears to have random entries. PMID:11017272

I give an overview of the effects of neutrinos on cosmology, focussing in particular on the role played by neutrinos in the evolution of cosmological perturbations. I discuss how recent observations of the cosmic microwave background and the large-scale structure of galaxies can probe neutrino masses with greater precision than current laboratory experiments. I describe several new techniques that will be used to probe cosmology in the future.

Dr. Don Lincoln introduces one of the most fascinating inhabitants of the subatomic realm: the neutrino. Neutrinos are ghosts of the microworld, almost not interacting at all. In this video, he describes some of their properties and how they were discovered. Studies of neutrinos are expected to be performed at many laboratories across the world and to form one of the cornerstones of the Fermilab research program for the next decade or more.

Dr. Don Lincoln introduces one of the most fascinating inhabitants of the subatomic realm: the neutrino. Neutrinos are ghosts of the microworld, almost not interacting at all. In this video, he describes some of their properties and how they were discovered. Studies of neutrinos are expected to be performed at many laboratories across the world and to form one of the cornerstones of the Fermilab research program for the next decade or more.

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos. PMID:25913819

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos.

Recent developments in neutrino physics, primarily the demonstration of neutrino oscillations in both atmospheric neutrinos and solar neutrinos, provide the first conclusive evidence for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The simplest phenomenology of neutrino oscillations, for three generations of neutrino, requires six parameters - two squared mass differences, 3 mixing angles and a complex phase that could, if not 0 or {pi}, contribute to the otherwise unexplained baryon asymmetry observed in the universe. Exploring the neutrino sector will require very intense beams of neutrinos, and will need novel solutions.

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos. PMID:25913819

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos.

The accelerator neutrino programme in the USA consists primarily of the Fermilab neutrino programme. Currently, Fermilab operates two neutrino beamlines, the Booster neutrino beamline and the NuMI neutrino beamline and is the planning stages for a third neutrino beam to send neutrinos to DUSEL. The experiments in the Booster neutrino beamline are miniBooNE, SciBooNE and in the future microBooNE, whereas in the NuMI beamline we have MINOS, ArgoNut, MINERVA and coming soon NOvA. The major experiment in the beamline to DUSEL will be LBNE.

The Majorana Experiment proposes to measure the effective mass of the electronneutrino to as low as 0.02 eV using well-tested technology. A half life of about 4E27 y, corresponding to a mass range of [0.02 - 0.07] eV can be reached by operating 500 kg of germanium enriched to 86% in Ge-76 deep underground. Radiological backgrounds of cosmogenic or primordial origin will be greatly reduced by ultra-low background screening of detector, structural, and shielding materials, by chemical processing of materials, and by electronic rejection of multi-site events in the detector. Electronic background reduction is achieved with pulse shape analysis, detector segmentation, and detector-to detector coincidence rejection.

The energy scale of dark energy, ˜2 ×10-3 eV , is a long way off compared to all known fundamental scales—except for the neutrino masses. If dark energy is dynamical and couples to neutrinos, this is no longer a coincidence. The time at which dark energy starts to behave as an effective cosmological constant can be linked to the time at which the cosmic neutrinos become nonrelativistic. This naturally places the onset of the Universe's accelerated expansion in recent cosmic history, addressing the why-now problem of dark energy. We show that these mechanisms indeed work in the growing neutrino quintessence model—even if the fully nonlinear structure formation and backreaction are taken into account, which were previously suspected of spoiling the cosmological evolution. The attractive force between neutrinos arising from their coupling to dark energy grows as large as 106 times the gravitational strength. This induces very rapid dynamics of neutrino fluctuations which are nonlinear at redshift z ≈2 . Nevertheless, a nonlinear stabilization phenomenon ensures only mildly nonlinear oscillating neutrino overdensities with a large-scale gravitational potential substantially smaller than that of cold dark matter perturbations. Depending on model parameters, the signals of large-scale neutrino lumps may render the cosmic neutrino background observable.

The first generation of large and precise detectors, some initially dedicated to search for nucleon decay has accumulated significant statistics on neutrinos and high-energy muons. A second generation of even better and bigger detectors are already in operation or in advanced construction stage. The present set of experimental data on muon groups and neutrinos is qualitatively better than several years ago and the expectations for the following years are high. Composition studies with underground muon groups, neutrino detection, and expected extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes are discussed.

The role of neutrinos in Type II supernovae is discussed. An overall view of the neutrino luminosity as expected theoretically is presented. The different weak interactions involved are assessed from the standpoint of how they exchange energy, momentum, and lepton number. Particular attention is paid to entropy generation and the path to thermal and chemical equilibration, and to the phenomenon of trapping. Various methods used to calculate the neutrino flows are considered. These include trapping and leakage schemes, distribution-averaged transfer, and multi-energy group methods. The information obtained from the neutrinos caught from Supernova 1987a is briefly evaluated. 55 refs., 7 figs.

Using high statistics samples of charged-current numu interactions, the MiniBooNE [corrected] Collaboration reports a measurement of the single-charged-pion production to quasielastic cross section ratio on mineral oil (CH2), both with and without corrections for hadron reinteractions in the target nucleus. The result is provided as a function of neutrino energy in the range 0.4 GeVneutrino calculations. PMID:19792715

Using high statistics samples of charged-current nu{sub m}u interactions, the MiniNooNE Collaboration reports a measurement of the single-charged-pion production to quasielastic cross section ratio on mineral oil (CH{sub 2}), both with and without corrections for hadron reinteractions in the target nucleus. The result is provided as a function of neutrino energy in the range 0.4 GeVneutrino calculations.

The reaction mechanisms for neutrino interactions with an {sup 40}Ar nucleus with the LBNF flux are calculated with the Giessen-Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) transport-theoretical implementation of these interactions. Quasielastic scattering, many-body effects, pion production and absorption and Deep Inelastic Scattering are discussed; they all play a role at the LBNF energies and are experimentally entangled with each other. Quasielastic scattering makes up for only about 1/3 of the total cross section whereas pion production channels make up about 2/3 of the total. This underlines the need for a consistent description of the neutrino-nucleus reaction that treats all channels on an equal, consistent footing. The results discussed here can also serve as useful guideposts for the Intermediate Neutrino Program.

Since its original postulation by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930, the neutrino has played a prominent role in our understanding of nuclear and particle physics. In the intervening 80 years, scientists have detected and measured neutrinos from a variety of sources, both man made and natural. Underlying all of these observations, and any inferences we may have made from them, is an understanding of how neutrinos interact with matter. Knowledge of neutrino interaction cross sections is an important and necessary ingredient in any neutrino measurement. With the advent of new precision experiments, the demands on our understanding of neutrino interactions is becoming even greater. The purpose of this article is to survey our current knowledge of neutrino cross sections across all known energy scales: from the very lowest energies to the highest that we hope to observe. The article covers a wide range of neutrino interactions including coherent scattering, neutrino capture, inverse beta decay, low-energy nuclear interactions, quasielastic scattering, resonant pion production, kaon production, deep inelastic scattering, and ultrahigh energy interactions. Strong emphasis is placed on experimental data whenever such measurements are available.

Neutrino-induced pion production on nuclear targets is the major inelastic channel in all present-day neutrino-oscillation experiments. It has to be understood quantitatively in order to be able to reconstruct the neutrino-energy at experiments such as MiniBooNE or K2K and T2K. We report here results of cross section calculations for both this channel and for quasielastic scattering within the semiclassical GiBUU method. This method contains scattering, both elastic and inelastic, absorption and side-feeding of channels all in a unitary, common theoretical framework and code. We find that charged current quasielastic scattering (CCQE) and 1 pi production are closely entangled in actual experiments, due to final state interactions of the scattered nucleons on one hand and of the DELTA resonances and pions, on the other hand. We discuss the uncertainties in the elementary pion production cross sections from ANL and BNL. We find the surprising result that the recent 1 pi production cross section data from MiniBooNE are well described by calculations without any FSI. For higher energies we study the validity of the Bloom-Gilman quark-hadron duality for both electron- and neutrino-induced reactions. While this duality holds quite well for nucleon targets, for nuclear targets the average resonance contributions to the structure function F{sub 2} are always lower than the DIS values. This result indicates a significant impact of nuclear effects on observables, reducing the cross section and structure functions by at least 30-40% and changing the form of various distributions.

Context. Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are associated with the gravitational collapse of very massive stars. The central engine of a GRB can collimate relativistic jets that propagate inside the stellar envelope. The shock waves produced when the jet disrupts the stellar surface are capable of accelerating particles up to very high energies. Aims: If the jet has hadronic content, neutrinos will be produced via charged pion decays. The main goal of this work is to estimate the neutrino emission produced in the region close to the surface of the star, taking pion and muon cooling into account, along with subtle effects arising from neutrino production in a highly magnetized medium. Methods: We estimate the maximum energies of the different kinds of particles and solve the coupled transport equations for each species. Once the particle distributions are known, we calculate the intensity of neutrinos. We study the different effects on the neutrinos that can change the relative weight of different flavors. In particular, we consider the effects of neutrino oscillations, and of neutrino spin precession caused by strong magnetic fields. Results: The expected neutrino signals from the shocks in the uncorking regions of Population III events is very weak, but the neutrino signal produced by Wolf-Rayet GRBs with z < 0.5 is not far from the level of the atmospheric background. Conclusions: The IceCube experiment does not have the sensitivity to detect neutrinos from the implosion of the earliest stars, but a number of high-energy neutrinos may be detected from nearby long GRBs. The cumulative signal should be detectable over several years (~10 yr) of integration with the full 86-string configuration.

In this session we focused on the higher energy deep and shallow inelastic particle interactions, DIS and SIS. DIS interactions occur when the energy of the incident particle beam is so large that the beam is able to penetrate the nucleons inside of the target nuclei. These interactions occur at the smallest level possible, that of the quark-gluon, or parton, level. SIS interactions occur in an intermediate energy range, just below the energy required for DIS interactions. The DIS cross section formula contains structure functions that describe our understanding of the underlying parton structure of nature. The full description of DIS interactions requires three structure functions: two may be measured in charged lepton or neutrinoscattering, but one can only be extracted from neutrino DIS data. There are reasons to expect that the impact of nuclear effects could be different for neutrinos engaging in the DIS interaction, vs those felt by leptons. In fact, fits by the nCTEQ collaboration have found that the neutrino-Fe structure functions appear to differ from those extracted from lepton scattering data [1]. To better understand the global picture of DIS and SIS, we chose a three-pronged attack that examined recent experimental results, data fits, and latest theory predictions. Experimental results from neutrino and lepton scattering, as well as collider experiments, were presented.

We evaluate the quasielastic double differential neutrino cross sections obtained in a phenomenological model based on the superscaling behavior of electron scattering data. We compare our results with the recent experimental data for neutrinos of MiniBooNE and estimate the contribution of the vector meson-exchange currents in the 2p-2h sector.

We study the sensitivity of large-scale xenon detectors to low-energy solar neutrinos, to coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering and to neutrinoless double beta decay. As a concrete example, we consider the xenon part of the proposed DARWIN (Dark Matter WIMP Search with Noble Liquids) experiment. We perform detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the expected backgrounds, considering realistic energy resolutions and thresholds in the detector. In a low-energy window of 2–30 keV, where the sensitivity to solar pp and {sup 7}Be-neutrinos is highest, an integrated pp-neutrino rate of 5900 events can be reached in a fiducial mass of 14 tons of natural xenon, after 5 years of data. The pp-neutrino flux could thus be measured with a statistical uncertainty around 1%, reaching the precision of solar model predictions. These low-energy solar neutrinos will be the limiting background to the dark matter search channel for WIMP-nucleon cross sections below ∼ 2 × 10{sup −48} cm{sup 2} and WIMP masses around 50 GeV⋅c{sup −2}, for an assumed 99.5% rejection of electronic recoils due to elastic neutrino-electron scatters. Nuclear recoils from coherent scattering of solar neutrinos will limit the sensitivity to WIMP masses below ∼ 6 GeV⋅c{sup −2} to cross sections above ∼ 4 × 10{sup −45}cm{sup 2}. DARWIN could reach a competitive half-life sensitivity of 5.6 × 10{sup 26} y to the neutrinoless double beta decay of {sup 136}Xe after 5 years of data, using 6 tons of natural xenon in the central detector region.

The high energy neutrino detection by a km{sup 3} Neutrino Telescope placed in the Mediterranean sea provides a unique tool to both determine the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux and the neutrino nucleon cross section in the extreme kinematical region, which could unveil the presence of new physics. Here is performed a brief analysis of possible NEMO site performances.

I review the essentials of ultrahigh-energy neutrino interactions, show how neutral-current detection and flavor tagging can enhance the scientific potential of neutrino telescopes, and sketch new studies on neutrino encounters with dark matter relics and on gravitational lensing of neutrinos.

The result of a new calculation of the atmospheric muon and neutrino fluxes and the energy spectrum of muon-neutrinos produced in individual extensive air showers (EAS) initiated by proton and gamma-ray primaries is reported. Also explained is the possibility of detecting atmospheric nu sub mu's due to gamma-rays from these sources.

Future cosmological data may be sensitive to the effects of a finite sum of neutrino masses even as small as {approx}0.06 eV, the lower limit guaranteed by neutrino oscillation experiments. We show that a cosmological detection of neutrino mass at that level would improve by many orders of magnitude the existing limits on neutrino lifetime, and as a consequence on neutrino secret interactions with (quasi-)massless particles as in majoron models. On the other hand, neutrino decay may provide a way-out to explain a discrepancy {approx}< 0.1 eV between cosmic neutrino bounds and Lab data.

Future cosmological data may be sensitive to the effects of a finite sum of neutrino masses even as small as {approx}0.06 eV, the lower limit guaranteed by neutrino oscillation experiments. We show that a cosmological detection of neutrino mass at that level would improve by many orders of magnitude the existing limits on neutrino lifetime, and as a consequence, on neutrino secret interactions with (quasi)massless particles as in Majoron models. On the other hand, neutrino decay may provide a way out to explain a discrepancy < or approx. 0.1 eV between cosmic neutrino bounds and lab data.

I will introduce a democratic neutrino theory, which sets the absolute scale of the neutrino masses at about 0.03 eV, and has only one free parameter in contrast to 7 (9) free parameters in the conventional model of Dirac (Majorana) neutrino masses and mixing. Taking into account the incoherence and matter effects, this democratic theory agrees with the atmospheric and solar neutrino data. Moreover the results of the reactor neutrino experiments with the baselines around 100 m can be better explained. I will also discuss the predictions of this theory for low energy beta decays, magnetic moments, and neutrinoless double beta decays. Supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-FG02-12ER41825.

Secret interactions among sterile neutrinos have been recently proposed as an escape route to reconcile eV sterile neutrino hints from short-baseline anomalies with cosmological observations. In particular models with coupling gX≳1 0-2 and gauge boson mediators X with MX≲10 MeV lead to large matter potential suppressing the sterile neutrino production before the neutrino decoupling. With this choice of parameter ranges, big-bang nucleosynthesis is left unchanged and gives no bound on the model. However, we show that at lower temperatures when active-sterile oscillations are no longer matter suppressed, sterile neutrinos are still in a collisional regime, due to their secret self-interactions. The interplay between vacuum oscillations and collisions leads to a scattering-induced decoherent production of sterile neutrinos with a fast rate. This process is responsible for a flavor equilibration among the different neutrino species. We explore the effect of this large sterile neutrino population on cosmological observables. We find that a signature of strong secret interactions would be a reduction of the effective number of neutrinos Neff at matter radiation equality down to 2.7. Moreover, for MX≳gX MeV sterile neutrinos would be free-streaming before becoming nonrelativistic and they would affect the large-scale structure power spectrum. As a consequence, for this range of parameters we find a tension of an eV mass sterile state with cosmological neutrino mass bounds.

This paper contains brief synopsis of the following major topics discussed in the neutrino and nonaccelerator parallel sessions: dark matter; neutrino oscillations at accelerators and reactors; gamma-ray astronomy; double beta decay; solar neutrinos; and the possible existence of a 17-KeV neutrino. (LSP)

The decade of the 1990's should prove to be a landmark period for the study of solar neutrino physics. Current observations show 2-3 times fewer neutrinos coming from the sun than are theoretically expected. As we enter the decade, new experiments are poised to attempt and discover whether this deficit is a problem with our understanding of how the sun works, is a hint of new neutrino properties beyond those predicted by the standard model of particle physics, or perhaps a combination of both. This paper will review the current status of the field and point out how future measurements should help solve this interesting puzzle. 11 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

We report an indication that the elastic scattering rate of solar B8 neutrinos with electrons in the Super-Kamiokande detector is larger when the neutrinos pass through Earth during nighttime. We determine the day-night asymmetry, defined as the difference of the average day rate and average night rate divided by the average of those two rates, to be [-3.2 ± 1.1(stat) ± 0.5(syst)]%, which deviates from zero by 2.7 σ. Since the elastic scattering process is mostly sensitive to electron-flavored solar neutrinos, a nonzero day-night asymmetry implies that the flavor oscillations of solar neutrinos are affected by the presence of matter within the neutrinos' flight path. Super-Kamiokande's day-night asymmetry is consistent with neutrino oscillations for 4 × 10(-5) eV(2) ≤ Δm 2(21) ≤ 7 × 10(-5) eV(2) and large mixing values of θ12, at the 68% C.L. PMID:24655245

Solar neutrinos are an invaluable tool for studying neutrino oscillations in matter as well as probing the nuclear reactions that fuel the Sun. In this talk I will give an overview of solar neutrinos and discuss the latest results in the field. I will highlight the recent precision measurement of the ^7Be solar neutrino interaction rate with the Borexino solar neutrino detector and present the status of the analysis of pep and CNO neutrinos. I will also briefly describe future experiments and their potential to detect low energy solar neutrinos.

Solar neutrino experiments observed fluxes smaller than the expectations from the standard solar model. This discrepancy is known as the “solar neutrino problem”. Flux measurements by Super-Kamiokande and SNO have demonstrated that the solar neutrino problem is due to neutrino oscillations. Combining the results of all solar neutrino experiments, parameters for solar neutrino oscillations are obtained. Correcting for the effect of neutrino oscillations, the observed neutrino fluxes are consistent with the prediction from the standard solar model. In this article, results of solar neutrino experiments are reviewed with detailed descriptions of what Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande have contributed to the history of astroparticle physics with solar neutrino measurements. PMID:21558758

We investigate the impact of pairing correlations on neutrino transport in stellar matter. Our analysis is extended to nuclear matter conditions where large density fluctuations may develop, associated with the onset of the liquid-vapor phase transition, and where clustering phenomena occur. Within a thermodynamical treatment, we show that at moderate temperatures, where pairing effects are still active, the scattering of neutrinos in the nuclear medium is significantly affected by pairing correlations, which increase the neutrino trapping, thus modifying the cooling mechanism, by neutrino emission, of protoneutron stars.

We calculate the neutrino production cross-section in the proto-neutron-star matter under a strong magnetic field in the relativistic mean-field approach. We introduce a new parameter-set which can reproduce the 1.96 solar mass neutron star. We find that the production process increases emitted neutrinos along the direction parallel to the magnetic field and decrease those along its opposite direction. It means that resultant asymmetry due to the neutrino absorption and scattering process in the magnetic field becomes larger by the addition of the neutrino production process.

Neutrinos streaming from a supernova core occasionally scatter in the envelope, producing a small “neutrino halo” with a much broader angle distribution than the primary flux originating directly from the core. Cherry et al. have recently pointed out that, during the accretion phase, the halo actually dominates neutrino-neutrino refraction at distances exceeding some 100 km. However, the multiangle matter effect (which increases if the angle distribution is broader) still appears to suppress self-induced flavor conversion during the accretion phase.

Germanium detectors with sub-keV sensitivities [1, 2, 3] offer a unique opportunity to study neutrino interactions and properties [4] as well as to search for light WIMP Dark Matter [5, 6]. The TEXONO and CDEX Collaborations have been pursuing this research program at the Kuo-Sheng Neutrino Laboratory in Taiwan and in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory in China. We will present highlights of the detector R&D program which allow us to experimental probe this new energy window. The results, status and plans of our neutrino physics program will be discussed, with focus on the quest on neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering.

We investigate the cosmological effects of a neutrino interaction with cold dark-matter. We postulate a neutrino that interacts with a ''neutrino-interacting dark-matter'' (NIDM) particle with an elastic-scattering cross section that either decreases with temperature as T{sup 2} or remains constant with temperature. The neutrino-dark-matter interaction results in a neutrino-dark-matter fluid with pressure, and this pressure results in diffusion-damped oscillations in the matter power spectrum, analogous to the acoustic oscillations in the baryon-photon fluid. We discuss the bounds from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey on the NIDM opacity (ratio of cross section to NIDM-particle mass) and compare with the constraint from observation of neutrinos from supernova 1987A. If only a fraction of the dark matter interacts with neutrinos, then NIDM oscillations may affect current cosmological constraints from measurements of galaxy clustering. We discuss how detection of NIDM oscillations would suggest a particle-antiparticle asymmetry in the dark-matter sector.

GENIE is a suite of products for the experimental neutrino physics community. This suite includes i) a modern software framework for implementing neutrino event generators, a state-of-the-art comprehensive physics model and tools to support neutrino interaction simulation for realistic experimental setups (the Generator product), ii) extensive archives of neutrino, charged-lepton and hadron scattering data and software to produce a comprehensive set of data/MC comparisons (the Comparisons product), and iii) a generator tuning framework and fitting applications (the Tuning product). This book provides the definite guide for the GENIE Generator: It presents the software architecture and a detailed description of its physics model and official tunes. In addition, it provides a rich set of data/MC comparisons that characterise the physics performance of GENIE. Detailed step-by-step instructions on how to install and configure the Generator, run its applications and analyze its outputs are also included.

We report a measurement of the neutrino-electron elastic scattering rate of 862 keV 7Be solar neutrinos based on a 165.4 kt d exposure of KamLAND. The observed rate is 582 ±94 (kt d)-1, which corresponds to an 862-keV 7Be solar neutrino flux of (3.26 ±0.52 ) ×109cm-2s-1 , assuming a pure electron-flavor flux. Comparing this flux with the standard solar model prediction and further assuming three-flavor mixing, a νe survival probability of 0.66 ±0.15 is determined from the KamLAND data. Utilizing a global three-flavor oscillation analysis, we obtain a total 7Be solar neutrino flux of (5.82 ±1.02 ) ×109cm-2s-1 , which is consistent with the standard solar model predictions.

Amplitudes derived from scattering data on elementary targets are basic inputs to neutrino-nucleus cross section predictions. A prominent example is the isovector axial nucleon form factor, FA(q2), which controls charged current signal processes at accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments. Previous extractions of FA from neutrino-deuteron scattering data rely on a dipole shape assumption that introduces an unquantified error. A new analysis of world data for neutrino-deuteron scattering is performed using a model-independent, and systematically improvable, representation of FA. A complete error budget for the nucleon isovector axial radius leads to rA2 = 0.46(22)fm2, with a much larger uncertainty than determined inmore » the original analyses. The quasielastic neutrino-neutron cross section is determined as σ(νμn → μ-p)|Ev=1GeV = 10.1(0.9)×10-39cm2. The propagation of nucleon-level constraints and uncertainties to nuclear cross sections is illustrated using MINERvA data and the GENIE event generator. Furthermore, these techniques can be readily extended to other amplitudes and processes.« less

Amplitudes derived from scattering data on elementary targets are basic inputs to neutrino-nucleus cross section predictions. A prominent example is the isovector axial nucleon form factor, FA(q2), which controls charged current signal processes at accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments. Previous extractions of FA from neutrino-deuteron scattering data rely on a dipole shape assumption that introduces an unquantified error. A new analysis of world data for neutrino-deuteron scattering is performed using a model-independent, and systematically improvable, representation of FA. A complete error budget for the nucleon isovector axial radius leads to rA2=0.46 (22 ) fm2 , with a much larger uncertainty than determined in the original analyses. The quasielastic neutrino-neutron cross section is determined as σ (νμn →μ-p )|Eν=1GeV=10.1 (0.9 )×10-39 cm2 . The propagation of nucleon-level constraints and uncertainties to nuclear cross sections is illustrated using MINERvA data and the GENIE event generator. These techniques can be readily extended to other amplitudes and processes.

The neutrino mass plays an important role in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. In recent years the detection of neutrino flavour oscillations proved that neutrinos carry mass. However, oscillation experiments are only sensitive to the mass-squared difference of the mass eigenvalues. In contrast to cosmological observations and neutrino-less double beta decay (0v2β) searches, single β-decay experiments provide a direct, model-independent way to determine the absolute neutrino mass by measuring the energy spectrum of decay electrons at the endpoint region with high accuracy. Currently the best kinematic upper limits on the neutrino mass of 2.2eV have been set by two experiments in Mainz and Troitsk, using tritium as beta emitter. The next generation tritium β-experiment KATRIN is currently under construction in Karlsruhe/Germany by an international collaboration. KATRIN intends to improve the sensitivity by one order of magnitude to 0.2eV. The investigation of a second isotope (137Rh) is being pursued by the international MARE collaboration using micro-calorimeters to measure the beta spectrum. The technology needed to reach 0.2eV sensitivity is still in the R&D phase. This paper reviews the present status of neutrino-mass measurements with cosmological data, 0v2β decay and single β-decay.

The neutrino mass plays an important role in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. In recent years the detection of neutrino flavour oscillations proved that neutrinos carry mass. However, oscillation experiments are only sensitive to the mass-squared difference of the mass eigenvalues. In contrast to cosmological observations and neutrino-less double beta decay (0v2{beta}) searches, single {beta}-decay experiments provide a direct, model-independent way to determine the absolute neutrino mass by measuring the energy spectrum of decay electrons at the endpoint region with high accuracy.Currently the best kinematic upper limits on the neutrino mass of 2.2eV have been set by two experiments in Mainz and Troitsk, using tritium as beta emitter. The next generation tritium {beta}-experiment KATRIN is currently under construction in Karlsruhe/Germany by an international collaboration. KATRIN intends to improve the sensitivity by one order of magnitude to 0.2eV. The investigation of a second isotope ({sup 137}Rh) is being pursued by the international MARE collaboration using micro-calorimeters to measure the beta spectrum. The technology needed to reach 0.2eV sensitivity is still in the R and D phase. This paper reviews the present status of neutrino-mass measurements with cosmological data, 0v2{beta} decay and single {beta}-decay.

We present a measurement of neutrino oscillations via atmospheric muon neutrino disappearance with three years of data of the completed IceCube neutrino detector. DeepCore, a region of denser IceCube instrumentation, enables the detection and reconstruction of atmospheric muon neutrinos between 10 and 100 GeV, where a strong disappearance signal is expected. The IceCube detector volume surrounding DeepCore is used as a veto region to suppress the atmospheric muon background. Neutrino events are selected where the detected Cherenkov photons of the secondary particles minimally scatter, and the neutrino energy and arrival direction are reconstructed. Both variables are used to obtain the neutrino oscillation parameters from the data, with the best fit given by Δ m322=2.72-0.20+0.19×10-3 eV2 and sin2θ23=0.53-0.12+0.09 (normal mass ordering assumed). The results are compatible, and comparable in precision, to those of dedicated oscillation experiments.

Along with a thermal distribution of photons, we expect a thermal distribution of neutrinos to have been produced in the big bang. Although direct detection of the cosmic neutrino background (CNB) is extremely difficult, if not impossible, there is much we are learning indirectly about the CNB from its gravitational influences. I will review constraints from cosmic microwave background observations on the energy density in the CNB, present a recent detection of supersonic evolution of density perturbations in the CNB, and discuss constraints on neutrino masses from cosmological observables. I will also look toward what we can expect from future cosmological surveys, such as CMB-S4.

A calculation of the flux of ultra-high energy neutrinos from galactic neutron stars is presented. The calculation is used to determine the number of point sources detectable at the sensitivity threshold of a proposed deep underwater muon and neutrino detector array. The detector array would have a point source detection threshold of about 100 eV/sq cm-sec. Analysis of neutrino luminosities and the number of detectable sources suggests that the deep underwater detector may make a few discoveries. In particular, a suspected neutron star in the Cyg X-3 source seems a promising target for the deep underwater array.

The oscillation of neutrinos from one variety to another has long been suspected, but was confirmed only about 15 years ago. In order for these oscillations to occur, neutrinos must have a mass, no matter how slight. Since neutrinos have long been thought to be massless, in a very real way, this phenomena is a clear signal of physics beyond the known. In this video, Fermilab's Dr Don Lincoln explains how we know it occurs and hints at the rich experimental program at several international laboratories designed to understand this complex mystery.

I review the standard solar model, the disparities between its predictions and the solar neutrino flux measurements of the Homestake and Kamioka 2 collaborations, and possible particle physics resolutions of this puzzle. The effects of matter, including density fluctuations and turbulence, on solar neutrino oscillations are explained by building analogies with more familiar atomic physics phenomena. These and other mechanisms are considered as possible explanations for time variations in the solar neutrino flux. Finally, I consider possible outcomes and implications of the SAGE/GALLEX gallium experiments.

The oscillation of neutrinos from one variety to another has long been suspected, but was confirmed only about 15 years ago. In order for these oscillations to occur, neutrinos must have a mass, no matter how slight. Since neutrinos have long been thought to be massless, in a very real way, this phenomena is a clear signal of physics beyond the known. In this video, Fermilab's Dr Don Lincoln explains how we know it occurs and hints at the rich experimental program at several international laboratories designed to understand this complex mystery.

The oscillation of neutrinos from one variety to another has long been suspected, but was confirmed only about 15 years ago. In order for these oscillations to occur, neutrinos must have a mass, no matter how slight. Since neutrinos have long been thought to be massless, in a very real way, this phenomena is a clear signal of physics beyond the known. In this video, Fermilab's Dr Don Lincoln explains how we know it occurs and hints at the rich experimental program at several international laboratories designed to understand this complex mystery.

Sterile neutrinos are thermalised in the early Universe via oscillations with the active neutrinos for certain mixing parameters. The most detailed calculation of this thermalisation process involves the solution of the momentum-dependent quantum kinetic equations, which track the evolution of the neutrino phase space distributions. Until now the collision terms in the quantum kinetic equations have always been approximated using equilibrium distributions, but this approximation has never been checked numerically. In this work we revisit the sterile neutrino thermalisation calculation using the full collision term, and compare the results with various existing approximations in the literature. We find a better agreement than would naively be expected, but also identify some issues with these approximations that have not been appreciated previously. These include an unphysical production of neutrinos via scattering and the importance of redistributing momentum through scattering, as well as details of Pauli blocking. Finally, we devise a new approximation scheme, which improves upon some of the shortcomings of previous schemes.

Sterile neutrinos are thermalised in the early Universe via oscillations with the active neutrinos for certain mixing parameters. The most detailed calculation of this thermalisation process involves the solution of the momentum-dependent quantum kinetic equations, which track the evolution of the neutrino phase space distributions. Until now the collision terms in the quantum kinetic equations have always been approximated using equilibrium distributions, but this approximation has never been checked numerically. In this work we revisit the sterile neutrino thermalisation calculation using the full collision term, and compare the results with various existing approximations in the literature. We find a better agreement than would naively be expected, but also identify some issues with these approximations that have not been appreciated previously. These include an unphysical production of neutrinos via scattering and the importance of redistributing momentum through scattering, as well as details of Pauli blocking. Finally, we devise a new approximation scheme, which improves upon some of the shortcomings of previous schemes.

We study the sensitivity of future low energy neutrino experiments to extra neutral gauge bosons, leptoquarks, and R-parity breaking interactions. We focus on future proposals to measure coherent neutrino-nuclei scattering and neutrino-electron elastic scattering. We introduce a new comparative analysis between these experiments and show that in different types of new physics it is possible to obtain competitive bounds to those of present and future collider experiments. For the cases of leptoquarks and R-parity breaking interactions we found that the expected sensitivity for most of the future low energy experimental setups is better than the current constraints.

Neutrinos play an important role in the type-II supernova scenario. Numerous approaches have been made in order to treat the generation and transport of neutrinos and the interactions between neutrinos and matter during stellar collapse and the shock propagation phase. However, all computationally fast methods have in common the fact that they cannot avoid simplifications in describing the interactions and, furthermore, have to use parameterizations in handling the Boltzmann transport equation. In order to provide an instrument for calibrating these treatments and for calculating neutrino spectra emitted from given stellar configurations, a Monte Carlo transport code was designed. Special attention was paid to an accurate computation of scattering kernels and source functions. Neutrino spectra for a hydrostatic stage of a 20 solar mass supernova simulation were generated and conclusions drawn concerning a late time revival of the stalled shock by neutrino heating.

We study the Berry phase in neutrino oscillations for both Dirac and Majorana neutrinos. In order to have a Berry phase, the neutrino oscillations must occur in a varying medium, the neutrino-background interactions must depend on at least two independent densities, and also there must be CP violation. If the neutrino interactions with matter are mediated only by the standard model W and Z boson exchanges, these conditions imply that there must be at least three generations of neutrinos. The CP violating Majorana phases do not play a role in generating a Berry phase. We show that a natural way to satisfy the conditions for the generation of a Berry phase is to have sterile neutrinos with active-sterile neutrino mixing, in which case at least two active and one sterile neutrinos are required. If there are additional new CP violating flavor changing interactions, it is also possible to have a nonzero Berry phase with just two generations.

Today it is widely believed that s-channel excitation of an on-shell W boson, commonly known as the Glashow resonance, can be initiated in matter only by the electron antineutrino in the process νbaree- →W- at the laboratory energy around 6.3 PeV. In this Letter we argue that the Glashow resonance within the Standard Model also occurs in neutrino-nucleus collisions. The main conclusions are as follows. 1) The Glashow resonance can be excited by both neutrinos and antineutrinos of all the three flavors scattering in the Coulomb field of a nucleus. 2) The Glashow resonance in a neutrino-nucleus reaction does not manifest itself as a Breit-Wigner-like peak in the cross section but the latter exhibits instead a slow logarithmic-law growth with the neutrino energy. The resonance turns thus out to be hidden. 3) More than 98% of W bosons produced in the sub-PeV region in neutrino-initiated reactions in water/ice will be from the Glashow resonance. 4) The vast majority of the Glashow resonance events in a neutrino detector are expected at energies from a few TeV to a few tens of TeV, being mostly initiated by the conventional atmospheric neutrinos dominant in this energy range. Calculations of the cross sections for Glashow resonance excitation on the oxygen nucleus as well as on the proton are carried out in detail. The results of this Letter can be useful for studies of neutrino interactions at large volume water/ice neutrino detectors. For example, in the IceCube detector one can expect 0.3 Glashow resonance events with shower-like topologies and the deposited energies above 300 TeV per year. It is therefore likely already to have at least one Glashow resonance event in the IceCube data set.

Today it is widely believed that s-channel excitation of an on-shell W boson, commonly known as the Glashow resonance, can be initiated in matter only by the electron antineutrino in the process νbaree- →W- at the laboratory energy around 6.3 PeV. In this Letter we argue that the Glashow resonance within the Standard Model also occurs in neutrino-nucleus collisions. The main conclusions are as follows. 1) The Glashow resonance can be excited by both neutrinos and antineutrinos of all the three flavors scattering in the Coulomb field of a nucleus. 2) The Glashow resonance in a neutrino-nucleus reaction does not manifest itself as a Breit-Wigner-like peak in the cross section but the latter exhibits instead a slow logarithmic-law growth with the neutrino energy. The resonance turns thus out to be hidden. 3) More than 98% of W bosons produced in the sub-PeV region in neutrino-initiated reactions in water/ice will be from the Glashow resonance. 4) The vast majority of the Glashow resonance events in a neutrino detector are expected at energies from a few TeV to a few tens of TeV, being mostly initiated by the conventional atmospheric neutrinos dominant in this energy range. Calculations of the cross sections for Glashow resonance excitation on the oxygen nucleus as well as on the proton are carried out in detail. The results of this Letter can be useful for studies of neutrino interactions at large volume water/ice neutrino detectors. For example, in the IceCube detector one can expect 0.3 Glashow resonance events with shower-like topologies and the deposited energies above 300 TeV per year. It is therefore likely already to have at least one Glashow resonance event in the IceCube data set.

Lepton mixing, which requires physics beyond the Standard Model, is surprisingly compatible with a minimal, symmetryless and unbiased approach, called anarchy. This contrasts with highly involved flavor symmetry models. On the other hand, hints for light sterile neutrinos have emerged from a variety of independent experiments and observations. If confirmed, their existence would represent a groundbreaking discovery, calling for a theoretical interpretation. We discuss anarchy in the two-neutrino eV-scale seesaw framework. The distributions of mixing angles and masses according to anarchy are in agreement with global fits for the active and sterile neutrino parameters. Our minimal and economical scenario predicts the absence of neutrinoless double beta decay and one vanishing neutrino mass, and can therefore be tested in future experiments.

The theory and phenomenology of light sterile neutrinos at the eV mass scale is reviewed. The reactor, gallium and Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector anomalies are briefly described and interpreted as indications of the existence of short-baseline oscillations which require the existence of light sterile neutrinos. The global fits of short-baseline oscillation data in 3 + 1 and 3 + 2 schemes are discussed, together with the implications for β-decay and neutrinoless double-β decay. The cosmological effects of light sterile neutrinos are briefly reviewed and the implications of existing cosmological data are discussed. The review concludes with a summary of future perspectives. This review is dedicated to the memory of Hai-Wei Long, our dear friend and collaborator, who passed away on 29 May 2015. He was an exceptionally kind person and an enthusiastic physicist. We deeply miss him.